


The Storm Inside

by OctoberSnow



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Action/Adventure, And Elsa's still super serious, Anna being an amazing sister, But mostly fluff, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Jack's still a goofball, Red String of Fate, Slow Burn, This couple gave me life back in the day, Whooo boy this fic is old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21811186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctoberSnow/pseuds/OctoberSnow
Summary: Jack heard her first wail echo over the lands like she was calling out to him, like she had a secret to share. He left his branch in the snowy forest and was pulled to her voice like a string of fate slowly winding them together.In which Jack and Elsa find their fates intertwine in both the best and worst of ways, and learn how to accept it.
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna (Disney) & Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa (Disney)/Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood)
Comments: 68
Kudos: 207





	1. Shadow Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a fairly old story I've written waaay back in the day (I'm talking 5 years ago folks), and I figured I'd cross-publish it here due to how popular it got. I'm strongly considering a new story with these two lovable frostbitten dorks, so let me know what you think!!

Elsa was a treasure.

Jack remembered the day she came into this world, her strong yet tiny voice bouncing against the walls of the chamber as the maids and nurses cried out in relief and happiness at the queen's successful delivery. Jack heard her first wail echo over the lands like she was calling out to him, like she had a secret to share. He left his branch in the snowy forest and was pulled to her voice like a string of fate slowly winding them together.

Elsa was a healthy and beautiful baby girl, and the king wanted nothing more than to pinch her cheeks and carry her on his shoulder by the time she was able to toddle around her mother's bedroom. Everyone adored the little princess with her white-blonde hair and stunning blue eyes.

Her sister Anna came into the world soon after, her own cry full of warmth and vigor. Jack only heard it because he was standing in the hallway beside Elsa during the delivery, a doll of a child clutching at her father's pants as she gazed at the closed door with wonder, eyes widening when the call of Anna's voice reached her little ears.

Jack watched over the two of them, particularly Elsa once she revealed her secret one day in their bedroom, while she and Anna were playing together. The cry of surprise from Elsa and the gasp of excitement from Anna as they watched the snowflakes dance around in the air was nothing compared to the feeling of something strong and heavy swelling in Jack's chest when he watched Elsa clutch her tiny hands together like she was frightened of her own gift.

"Do that again!" Anna exclaimed excitedly, her toy horse lying forgotten on the ground as she bounced up and down on her knees. Elsa looked at Anna, her precious little sister with the copper hair gleaming like fire in the afternoon light and eyes bright with wonder. Anna didn't see it as anything less than extraordinary, so neither should she.

Days and years passed by like a bright blur as Jack watched the two siblings play around in the sparkling snow that Elsa captured from the moisture in the air. Elsa reveled in the power that sang like an icy tune in her veins whenever she used it, and whenever she wasn't using it. Jack knew that feeling all too well, the rush of something cold and brilliant, constantly begging to be released.

It was said that a child born with the power of ice only came by whenever the Man on the Moon willed it, and Jack couldn't help but listen to the slight tugging within him, the whisper that Elsa had been born and given as something special to him, a girl to be nurtured and guarded by the wintry spirit.

But the memory of that one night was forever burned into the back of his mind, the night when Elsa grew to fear her gift once more. Elsa and Anna had been playing in the ballroom while the rest of the castle slept, delighted giggles and shrieks echoing throughout the vast room as they danced around on the ice and climbed through the snow. Jack felt the tug of a smile that was wont to appear whenever he watched the little princesses tug each other around on the slippery floor as he leaned against a tall pillar. But Anna was moving too fast, leaping from one snow mound to the next and Elsa struggled to keep up with her sister. One slip had her sprawled on the ice and Jack's smile faded as he grew alarmed.

Something bad was about to happen, he could feel it thumping against his chest as he watch Elsa cry out to her sister; the seconds slowed down when the older princess shot out her hand and the frozen spark zipped through the air. It hit Anna on the side of her head with a quiet, furious noise and with a small grunt Anna fell to the floor still. Jack was leaning over her before he was aware that he moved, the pounding of blood rushing through his body almost drowning out the gasp of Elsa as she ran to Anna's limp figure. "Anna!" Elsa cried in a fearful whisper as she cradled her sister's head in her lap, running a hand over the streak of white in Anna's hair; Jack watched her face, the mixture of shock and tears twisting her features as she wailed for their parents.

Jack's hand reached out to touch Anna's head and it passed through, like he was a ghost. Anna's mouth was slack and her eyes closed loosely, as if she were slumbering. He sensed life in her still, fragile and threatening to extinguish with the smallest whisper. But he couldn't help her. He couldn't help Elsa either, as he sat on his knees beside the weeping girl and listened to the thumping of footsteps from the hallway.

"You're okay, Anna… I've got you…"

The king and queen burst through the door, and Jack already knew where they were going to take Anna. He zipped by in the air close to the rulers of Arendelle as they sped through the night, leaving a carpet of ice behind them. Jack almost didn't notice the little boy idling though the forest on a small sled pulled by a reindeer calf. He didn't know the child as he had spent the past five years watching over the two girls, and the boy was all too eager to follow the trail of frost left by little Elsa, too worried over Anna to notice her powers seeping through to the earth.

The rock trolls were a group of creatures that Jack used to spend many days with, as their boisterous and friendly ways drew him in like a magnet. He stayed hidden this time, however, not wishing to draw any attention to himself as he watched from a safe distance. The old troll Grand Pappy told the parents what he had to do to Anna, why he had to erase the memories of the days she'd spent with Elsa playing in the snow. It was hard to watch Elsa's delicate features fall as she looked at her hands, a mixture of sadness and something akin to guilt shining in her eyes.

"Listen to me, Elsa," Grand Pappy said gently to the young girl, and even with the wind carrying their voices to Jack's ears he had to lean forward to hear the next words. "Your power will only grow." Pappy lit up the night sky with images of Elsa weaving magic with her hands, fascinating the other bright figures that drew near. Jack already knew what Pappy was going to warn her of, but it didn't keep the tears from burning his eyes as he watched Elsa gasp in fright and clutch for her father, red light flickering on her face. She was afraid of it, and so were her parents. This gift of ice, which Jack saw as beautiful, was only wicked to the girl who wielded it.

Fear will be your enemy.

When the family left, Jack stayed behind, finally allowing himself to slink down beside Grand Pappy. Pappy didn't look at him, but the small grin on his face showed that he knew Jack had been there all the while.

"I thought I felt a nip in the air."

Jack wanted to smile, tried to lift the corners of his mouth, but for once he wasn't in a cheerful mood. Grand Pappy turned to him with knowing eyes. When Jack spoke, his words came out slow and thoughtful. "She's…her powers are becoming stronger because of me, aren't they?" Pappy's eyes grew solemn and he nodded. "I'm afraid the presence of a winter spirit will only exacerbate what little power she has control over."

Oh Moon, he didn't want to believe it. He had to stay away from Elsa, the girl who could weave crystals out of thin air, the girl whose spirit called to his in a way that he'd never felt before. He had to, or the powers will strive to control her, turn her blood into ice. But he didn't want to leave her entirely. He had to visit her from time to time, for why else would the Man on the Moon command Jack to look over her?

Jack spent the years zipping around to different places, causing bits of mischief that were brushed off by the people as coincidence. He was still a ghost to the world, and this knowledge left him hollow inside.

One day, he decided that he needed to see Elsa; he had to be around her, or else he would go crazy. Her absence from his life left him empty and aching, and all he cared about was seeing that sweet little face that brought joy from delighting her sister.

Jack flew to Arendelle and slid down the roof of the castle. He gazed upside down through the large window, into the room shared by Anna and Elsa, where Elsa first discovered her powers. But Elsa's bed and dresser were gone. Only Anna's possessions remained.

The spirit knew, however, that Elsa was still in the castle as he could feel her presence humming steadily in his veins. He swept through the window and landed on the floor, looking around the room. The furniture had been moved around, trying to fill the empty space that Elsa's bed once filled; the room seemed large, much too large. The castle was also silent.

Then, he heard three crisp knocks, muffled but nearby. He swept into the dark hallway and saw a slender figure clad in black, standing by a door. "Elsa?" The figure called out quietly, and Jack saw that it was Anna. But her face was no longer bright and flushed like when she was a child. Her happy aura was dimmed by all the black, and she looked tired. "Please, I know you're in there," Anna called quietly to the door, her sweet voice threatening to break. "People are asking where you've been."

Silence continued to fill the gaps of Anna's pleas, and as she turned to slide her back down the door, defeated by the lack of response, all Jack heard from her lips was, "We only have each other. It's just you and me."

It's just you and me.

Realization clicked in. Anna and Elsa were in mourning. Jack stepped through the wall, into the room where he felt Elsa's energy, but it was throbbing like she was wounded. He saw her sitting on the floor clutching her knees. A small flurry of snow lay suspended in the air, and to Jack the room radiated a slow and dull pain. He bent down to where he was eye level with Elsa, and saw the red in her eyes, the tightness of her lips as she stared right through him. She wanted to call out to Anna.

The spirit reached out, slowly, aching to touch her face and just feel her. But his hand touched nothing; it grazed over Elsa's cheek like a cruel mirage. Jack's throat tightened as Elsa made a small noise and buried her face into her knees. It was as if she wanted to curl into oblivion.

He had always been there for her, but he had never been there at the same time.

His life had never felt emptier.

Three whole years passed. Jack knew by then that Elsa's powers were going to grow no matter whether or not he spent time around Arrendale. He stuck around Elsa more often, only allowing her privacy whenever she bathed or changed. Many times he felt tempted to peek, just a quick glance as she slipped into the bath tub, but he refused to play his powers for perversity. He treasured her presence above all.

Both Elsa and Anna had grown into beautiful young women, and Jack couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in the two of them, and how Anna was like the light of the castle, flittering about and drawing laughs from the otherwise solemn servants. Her spirit was bright and strong, like Elsa's…but much warmer.

The day finally came for Elsa's coronation into becoming queen. Elsa's features were tight with anxiety as she clutched the makeshift scepter and cross, trying to keep the nervousness from seeping through her fingers and staining the metal with frost. Jack stood beside her, and saw Elsa's futile efforts draw a noise of frustration from her as she laid the iced candlestick and jeweled box back onto the table. She tried to hide her powers with gloves.

A man named Hans arrived from the Southern Isles for the coronation, a dashing young man who wooed Anna with eyes like a stormy sea. Being around Hans filled Jack with this stinging sense of uneasiness; this man's spirit was muddled and murky to the winter spirit, like staring into tempestuous waters. He didn't like Anna being around Hans.

Elsa did well enough at the coronation, and as she and Anna stood side by side in the ballroom, Jack idled behind them. He could sense that both of them were anxious, poor little Anna especially as she tried to say something to her sister without the words catching in her throat. Elsa decided to take the pains of breaking the silence first.

"Hi," She said gently to the younger woman, startling Anna. Three years since the passing of their parents, and nothing more than a few words had ever passed between them.

"Hi, hi me? Oh, um, hi?" It was adorably sad the way Anna wasn't used to the sound of her sister's voice, and the reason for it left a bitter taste in Jack's mouth. Elsa turned to Anna once more. "You look beautiful," She said with a sort of sincerity that rang melodiously in the air, the words colored soothingly. It sent Anna stumbling for a reply, trying and then giving up after tripping over the words a few times. But the brightness of her voice carried her meaning across as Elsa chuckled and replied with thanks.

A more comfortable air settled between them as the words flowed smooth and easy, like it did when they were children. But then Anna was swept away by Hans, and that sick clench in Jack's gut as he watched them dance made him wish he were real just so he could wrench Anna away from Hans, away from the muddled spirit. Hans had a charming seduction about him that Jack knew he didn't like.

But Anna was a woman who wasn't familiar with attention and the taste of it, especially from a beautiful man like Hans, drove her into a kind of giddy love that blinded itself to everything but the one who commanded its interest. She thought she was in love with him.

Jack, of course, knew otherwise.

As Anna nudged her way through the crowd with Hans' hand clutched in hers, Jack followed with a barely concealed blizzard within him. He could unleash a storm on Hans, but he wouldn't. Not with Elsa and Anna and all these other people in the same room. Elsa didn't give her consent, as Jack expected. By the way she clutched her hands together and picked at the gloves, she disliked Hans' presence as well.

"May I talk to you, please? Alone?" Elsa asked Anna with a voice tight like a drum. Anna refused to leave Hans' side, cornering Elsa into announcing her decision to both of them. "Fine," Elsa stated, her words cool and colorless, "you can't marry a man you just met."

Anna's voice came back resentful as she held onto Hans' arm. "You can if it's true love." The way she said that made the winter spirit want to roll his eyes. He wasn't sure what he would call the love he had towards Elsa, but it was strong and it ran deep. Anna and Hans' love was shallow like a river.

Elsa's tone was still cool, perhaps a bit patronizing. "Anna, what do you know about true love?"

"More than you. All you know is how to shut people out."

The newly appointed queen was taken aback by the bite of the words, words that came from the only person she could call family anymore. But what stung the most was how true they were. Elsa retained her posture, but the hurt in her voice poked holes in her words. "You asked for my blessing, and the answer is no. Now excuse me." She rebuked Hans when he extended his hand to her, like she was afraid of his touch. Jack couldn't blame her.

"The party's over."

"Elsa, please-"

Jack felt Elsa's spirit tremble as she snatched her hand away from Anna, who grabbed away one of her gloves. He felt something immense rise in the queen, a quiet thunder that had lain dormant for too long as Anna poked and prodded at poor Elsa, trying to drag words from her, a reason for all of the years that they never talked, a reason for why Elsa shut herself away, a reason for why she hurt Anna a reason a reason a reason-

"I said enough!"

With a harsh swoop of her hand, ice exploded from the tips of Elsa's fingers and created a brilliant arc of icicles on the floor, right at the stunned Anna's feet. The ballroom air was thick with stunned gasps as someone hissed, "Sorcery," like it was a black and treacherous word.

Elsa turned, and at the sound of her name breathed in an awed whisper threw open the doors and ran, ran until she reached the courtyard thick with her joyous subjects. Jack could only watch as she stumbled through the crowd, her spirit raging like the blizzard she had kept inside for many, many years. A woman holding an infant stood in her path, her voice edged with concern as she asked, "Your highness, are you all right?"

Elsa backed away and brushed the stone of the fountain, a bolt of ice from her hand freezing the water and weaving a spectacular sculpture of sharp edges and fear, her fear. The citizens stood stunned and Jack heard the cry echo into his ears, "There she is! Stop her!" The duke of Wesselton stood by the safety of his guards as a skinny finger jutted accusingly in the queen's direction. "Please," Elsa begged, her voice choked with terror and warning, "stay away from me, just stay away-"

She put her hands up, and the sparkle of frost that gleamed in the air and slammed into the ground created jagged tips of ice that burned Jack's eyes with its raw energy, knowing that Elsa was terrified. She was terrified of herself and the hands she never asked for. And then the people backed away, the air turned bitter with the scent of fear as they cuddled their wailing children away from Elsa, this witch, this monster.

And when she turned with tears glistening in her eyes and fled the castle, away from her sister and subjects and allies and everybody, Jack stood in her way with one arm extended, beckoning her with icy fingertips. She passed into him for the first time and an empty feeling sliced through Jack colder than any north wind. It tore apart his entire being, the all-consuming yet familiar sting of loneliness that never lost its bite, and never ceased to stop his breath.

Of course she couldn't see him. He was just a ghost.

The winds carried Jack as he watched Elsa stumble through the dark and over the water, the tips of her shoes sending a swathe of frost that extended over the whole of the fjord, blanketing the water in a thick sheen of ice. It was marvelous, the extent of her power. But all Elsa wanted to do was run, and all Jack could do was follow her.

The queen ran for a while, ran until the kingdom of Arendelle was gone from sight and immense mountains surrounded her, running through snowy gusts of wind that bit through the skin. But Elsa was numb to them, as Jack knew she would be. He found that he couldn't stop the blizzard inside of himself, like it was crying out to Elsa's own storm. He wanted to say something to her, and have her hear him for once.

"Elsa," Jack whispered to himself, tasting the name. "Elsa Elsa Elsa."

He had dim hope of her hearing him. Eighteen years, and he knew practically everything about her. She didn't even know he existed.

But he watched as Elsa threw her remaining glove into the howling air, the wind eagerly catching it and carrying it far, far away. Jack wanted to see her use the full extent of her power.

And he wasn't disappointed.

Glowing patterns of snowflakes arced through the wind, in brilliant swirls that filled the winter spirit with awe and pride. Elsa was smiling, smiling so wide and beautifully than Jack had ever seen her smile before. She unclasped her cape and threw it into the wind, a dash of purple disappearing into the distance.

Elsa threw her hands forward, and right before them appeared a staircase swathed in snow, painting itself into existence as she kept running through the air, Jack laughing as he flew beside her. A solid stomp of her foot, her hands stretched beckoningly upwards, and all around them Jack saw the glass walls of an ice palace stretching up from the ground, gleaming bright like crystals and it was breathtaking, watching the walls forming around them and carrying them upwards up into the night sky.

But not as breathtaking as Elsa when she pulled her crown from her hair and tossed it with gusto, pulling her hair out from its tight little bun into a wild braid. More twirls from those wonderful little wrists of hers formed a sparkling blue dress that clung to her ivory skin, and Jack watched her with his breath caught in his throat. By the Moon…

She was gorgeous.

She had always been gorgeous, but seeing her beauty so free like this made Jack want to laugh and dance and kiss her senseless. Here she was, his treasure, his baby, unleashing herself from the confines of her castle, from a life that squandered her gift. She could do whatever she pleased now.

"Elsa," Jack breathed longingly, all these feelings swirling inside of him as he watched her strut out to the gleaming balcony towards the rising sun. The turning of a new page for her life, and she greeted it with outstretched arms.

With a magnificent swoop of a cape that sparkled in the sunlight, she turned and slammed the doors behind her, but then stopped.

And gasped as she stared at the place where Jack stood.

Jack suddenly froze, his eyes staring into Elsa's widened ones. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out as whatever he planned to say never connected to his lips. Could she…

…see him?

She walked towards him, glass heels clicking on the ice and echoing through the palace, and stopped right in front of him. Jack looked into her face, her large eyes and small nose and finely sculpted jawline that he wanted to run a finger over, and feel the delicate bone underneath.

He reached out again towards her, but stopped a hair's width away. He was afraid to know.

"This place," Elsa murmured, "I feel something here."

It's me, Elsa. It's me you feel.

Her spirit flared, and his flared in response. He wanted to grab her and scream at her, he wanted her to see him. He stepped closer to her, breathing his chill into her face. She closed her eyes then, and turned away from him.

"My whole life…I've felt like there was someone watching over me, guarding me…" Her voice came out quiet and pondering, like a child talking about an imaginary friend. A dam broke inside of Jack, and the words flowed past his lips quick and relentless. "I have been, Elsa. I've been watching over you and Anna since you were infants. You have no idea how precious it was to watch you discover your powers, and it hurt to see you hide them from the rest of the world. They're beautiful like you, and you should never feel ashamed of what you're capable of. You can heal the wound you've inflicted on Anna, you can right everything."

He stopped. She hadn't said anything while he talked; she just stood with her back turned to him, still as the ice palace around her. He didn't care if she couldn't hear him. He needed to let go of the words that had built up inside of him for years, threatening to pull him down with the weight they carried in his chest.

Then her voice broke through the silence, a sharp and clean little whisper.

"Can I, now?"

Jack reached out then, towards her shoulder.

Her skin was cool to the touch.


	2. Snow Flurries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You've challenged the wrong person to a snowball fight, Jack Frost," She said, and the way she bit out his name, so playful and mocking, sent a delicious shudder down the winter spirit's spine.
> 
> "You're wrong," Jack replied airily, moving into a mock fighting pose, his cane held steadily towards her. "I've challenged the perfect person."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just watched Frozen 2 and I've got that "Into the Unknown" song stuck in my head.  
> Help me

"What is your name?"

Elsa asked quietly without turning to look at Jack. The winter spirit paused, his hand still on her shoulder like he couldn't quite believe that his fingers weren't passing through her as they had been for so many years. When he responded, his voice was soft and warm like candle fire.

"Jack Frost."

His hand left her shoulder and she turned her cerulean gaze on the winter spirit. For the first time she wasn't looking through him. She was staring into his eyes, staring like she hoped to find answers that had been just out of her reach since she was a child. It sent sparks under Jack's skin as his heartbeat reached a rapid crescendo.

Elsa opened her mouth slightly, paused before saying with a smile on her painted lips, "Like in those books Anna and I used to read." Jack remembered the day when Elsa and her sister were in the library, pulling out whatever books were in their reach and looking at the pictures. Elsa would read some of the stories to Anna with her exuberant little voice making Anna burst into giggles or fall into a fit of tears.

One of them happened to be a story about the winter spirit. Elsa and Anna were cushioned on a pile of pillows they had pulled off of the loveseat, preferring to sit by the window with its warm dusty light. Jack peered over little Elsa's shoulder as she read out loud, her voice soft and curious.

"Jack Frost is a playful spirit who enjoys nipping at the nose and toes during the winter time. He makes the snow come when the autumn leaves have fallen off their trees."

Anna giggled and pressed a finger against the picture. "He looks funny."

Jack furrowed his brow a bit as he observed the inked painting. _I don't look like that at all._

Elsa smiled at Anna's quip and continued reading. "The frost that you see on the window pane is actually," she pronounced _actually_ with careful lips, "his breath fogging it whenever he peers through your window."

"Does that mean he always looks through your window, Elsa?"

The older princess laughed and pinched her sister, who gave a small shriek and fell off the pillow pile. Anna tried to scurry away on her knees, but Elsa was quick to pull her back and she began to tickle the tiny redhead. Jack felt something warm in his chest as he watched the two of them, his staff propped up next to him as he reclined on the windowsill. More shrieking laughter as Anna's face grew pink and tears came to her eyes. "Are you Jack Frost, Elsa?" She asked between gasps and giggles.

"Maybe I am," Elsa replied mischievously, "I do like to nip at the nose," she pinched the bridge of Anna's nose with cold fingers, "and at the toes," as she tugged at the tiny toes of Anna's feet with a broad smile on her face. Jack was grinning so hard he thought his face would crack.

"And you can make snow too!" Anna said excitedly, causing Elsa to cease her little tickle torture and look at the smaller princess with twinkling eyes. "I can." Then the sparkle in her eyes softened as her smile faded.

"I can," she said again, this time to herself, and her voice was full of wonder. She looked down at her hands, small and white like baby doves. Jack drew near to her as she stared at them, and suddenly Elsa shivered, her little body fragile and quivering. "Are you okay?" Anna asked her older sister as bright blue eyes flashed with worry.

Elsa smiled faintly at Anna as she folded her hands under her arms. "Yes, I'm fine. Does it seem colder in here to you?"

That day stuck brightly into Jack's mind as he looked at Elsa, older Elsa with her wild hair and sparkling dress, a curious smile on her delicate features. Her eyes left his face and fell towards his staff. "Why do you have that?"

Jack looked down at his staff hanging loosely in his grip, suddenly aware of the wood worn smooth by years of holding. He tapped it on the palm of his hand and grinned at the queen. "This is where I keep all of my powers."

"That so?" She raised her hand almost dramatically and twirled a finger, a burst of snowy sparkles shooting into the air. "I think you already know where I keep mine."

The winter spirit chuckled, and the sound was like bells in the thin mountain air. This girl, this _woman_ didn't question where he had come from, why he had seemingly appeared out of nothing and into her life. Maybe she had always known, always felt by the slight prickling in her skin and the cold rush in her veins that there was another nearby with a soul like her own. "You've been watching me. My whole life, you've been watching over me and Anna." Elsa stated this, albeit in a somewhat flimsy and unsure way, like she waited for Jack to prove her otherwise.

But Jack couldn't. A smirk graced his sharp features as he replied with, "Maybe I'm like a guardian angel." Elsa stared at him for what seemed like a full minute, before she broke the silence with laughter that nearly doubled her over and turned her face pink. Jack looked at her, shock freezing his face into that of astonishment. Elsa's laughter was bright and full of mirth, and it was a sound that the spirit hadn't heard from her in nearly forever.

Her laughter died away softly into giggles as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "You aren't quite what I pictured a guardian angel to look like." She stepped closer to him, her cheeks still pink from merriment. "Although…you are quite lovely to look at."

Heat crept into Jack's face, an unfamiliar sensation that he wasn't sure he disliked. Elsa just called him lovely. It was only one word in a novel's worth of words that he would use to describe her, however.

"I, um…thank you."

A flash of sparkling white teeth as Elsa turned and made her way up the icy staircase, her cape flowing exquisitely as she glanced backwards at Jack. No words were needed from her to move the spirit as he followed the queen upstairs and into an open room with a large window in the back. It was vast and empty.

"Tell me," Elsa asked, her voice light as air while her heels clicked on the floor, "Were you always around me and my sister? Watching us?" Jack glanced downwards and shook his head a bit. "I was gone for a few years. I left right after…" He paused, but the glint in Elsa's eyes when she turned to look at him finished the unspoken words.

"I thought so," she replied softly, "I couldn't feel your presence. The air seemed less…cold. And I liked the cold. It was comforting." She tilted her head at him with that long and slender neck that reminded Jack of swans.

"Why did you leave?"

The sensation of something cutting into his throat made Jack gulp. "I thought I was making your powers worse."

Elsa's eyes softened a bit at the reply. "You didn't make them worse." It was then that Jack realized how close they were to each other, about a foot apart, and it felt like there were sparks in the air between them. Elsa brought up one small, slender hand towards Jack's face but stilled it. Jack could feel the buzz of it close to his cheek.

"May I?" She almost whispered to the spirit, the gleam of something warm in her eyes.

Something thudded against Jack's chest hard as he stared back into the queen's face. "Yes. Yes, of course," He replied breathlessly. He didn't know why she would even bother to ask. He closed his eyes as he felt those cold and delicate fingers graze over his cheek, soft as a butterfly's wings. They traced over his jaw line and down his neck before pausing at his pulse, racing faster than a stallion at full gallop.

He opened his eyes, then, and looked into her own. Her smile was faint as she whispered, "It's warm." He smiled back at her as her hand moved down to lay flat against his chest, over his heart, beating hard like thunder. "And this is too."

Elsa took one of Jack's hand into both of her hands, and even then couldn't completely enfold it, as his hands were large and hers were little. She placed it against her own neck, and Jack could feel her life flowing icy and smooth under his fingertips. It felt cold, yet it carried its own kind of warmth.

A whoosh of air left Jack's lips. He could finally touch her; he could finally feel the beautiful alabaster skin, real and solid under his palm. It was exhilarating.

"I want to take you somewhere."

"Where exactly," She said it more like it was a statement, like she'd already accepted wherever they were going. Jack's grin grew wily as he stepped close enough to Elsa to where she had to crane her neck up to him, and replied, "It's a surprise. Wrap your arms around my neck."

She did, her slender arms wrapping carefully around his neck as his free hand encircled her tiny waist, and he marveled briefly at how small and smooth she was, like a living, breathing china doll. But china dolls didn't smell like vanilla; Jack was a bit surprised, thinking that her scent would be sharp like peppermint, not soft and warm. It suited her all too well though.

Jack tipped his staff forward towards the ground, his back angled toward the large window. "Hold on tight," he told Elsa, and she nodded at him, and he thought about how wonderful it was that he could see his breath move her hair. He mustered just the right amount of force into the staff that sent them both propelling out of the window and into the cold morning light. Jack and Elsa were suspended at least a hundred feet over the tallest mountains sparkling gold from the sun, and the view was astonishing to say the least.

Elsa gasped, but not out of fear. It was a gasp full of excitement, and she clung to Jack as he raced over the currents of the wind to their destination. Jack could feel the queen's heartbeat, a quick _th-thump th-thump_ rhythm next to his own steady one as the familiar brush of wind scraped his face.

He saw the place, a pond that had been iced over for centuries, and he held Elsa tight in his arms as he eased them towards the ground, lightly landing on the powdery snow. All around them were trees dusted in the same kind of snow, fine and feather-like. Elsa un-wrapped her arms from around Jack's neck and observed the frozen water.

"What a quaint little area," Elsa said with a smile in her voice. In the distance she could see a small village, smoke plumes wafting in the sky as the townspeople started their day. Jack grinned almost shyly to himself, pleased that Elsa wasn't disinterested in the pond. This place meant something to him, like it was full of memories that he could never quite grasp and observe. Visiting this spot from time to time quenched a thirst inside of him, for this was the place where he first remembered something.

The spirit walked over to the frozen pond, one bare foot casually stepping onto the glazed sheen of the ice, and then another. He stopped and turned to Elsa with one hand extended, and she looked at it before pulling off her glass heels to toss into the snow next to Jack's staff. Her hand slipped into his and he tugged her slowly onto the ice, as they began to skate around the pond with their bare feet.

"Why here?" Elsa finally asked Jack as they continued their leisurely dance around the frozen water, holding each other loosely by the hands. She looked at him in a curious but sympathetic manner, like she was preparing herself for more than just a fond memory.

Jack answered her in all seriousness, "This is the first thing I remember."

"About what?"

"About _anything_."

She didn't stare at him accusingly or even blankly for the vague response. She slid herself closer to him and stared into his deep blue eyes. Her voice came out smooth and low. "This was where you were born." She understood.

His eyes sparkled a bit and he grinned softly at her. "You could say that." This was where he first awoke, surrounded in freezing water, the first sight that ever caught his eyes being the blurry light of the moon shining through the cracks. He was no longer who he had been before he woke up, whoever that was; he was a ghost, spiritual and eternal, shaking the trees with his wind and covering the earth with his frost. He had lived the countless centuries to know he was nothing different.

Elsa laughed suddenly, but the laugh was short and bitter. "What's wrong?" Jack asked her, stopping to hold her gently in his arms. "I just…this reminds me of all the times Anna and I would go ice skating," Elsa replied as she gazed past the spirit's shoulder to look into the trees and then looking back to him, her eyes stirring with mixed emotions. Jack knew that it hurt Elsa to remember when she didn't have to keep her gift a secret from her sister, when she delighted Anna with frozen ponds and snowmen.

" _Hi! My name is Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"_

_Anna giggled and clapped her hands before bouncing over to the snowman and covering him with the biggest hug her little arms could give._

" _I love you, Olaf!"_

A tight sound left Elsa's throat before she could stop it. She turned away from Jack, and he felt her spirit flare as she mulled over the bittersweet memory. He wanted to pull her close to him, into his arms and smell her vanilla hair and feel the warmth of her heart beating against his own, if only to quell the tears in her eyes.

"I'm- I'm sorry," Elsa began, bringing her hands to her face, "it's always the simplest things that seem to set you off." Jack reached out and took her hands into his own, holding them gently as he looked at her face, so beautiful and sad and threatening to spill with tears. "It's okay, Elsa," He said, unable to bring his voice above a whisper as he brought her closer, her breath brushing his face. "It's okay to remember."

She looked at him a moment longer before she lurched forward to bury her face against his chest, and Jack's heart began its irregular tempo as he felt her cold tears stain his shirt. He embraced her protectively, lean arms cradling her back as they stood out on the ice for what felt like forever and yet not long enough; she was releasing the bitter tears that had been poisoning her body for too long. Jack finally heard her words muffled against his chest, a quiet hiccup of, "I left her. I left everybody. I didn't want to hurt them."

He swallowed his own feelings and let them swirl in his stomach as his lips brushed over the top of her head. "I know."

Elsa's tears finally ceased, and she looked up at him with red eyes that seemed relieved, no longer weighed down with pain. Her words kissed Jack's face. "I can't hurt you though."

That was true. He had a special resistance to the cold that nobody else possessed…except her. They were the only two who could bear the frost of the winter, and not feel the bite of it on their skin.

Jack's throat tightened at the raw feelings in her voice, and his voice came out in a low, soothing lilt.

"I know."

They got off the ice and walked through the forest, morning fog curling around them as the winter birds chirped brightly on the snow-covered branches. "This place is wonderful," Elsa breathed out as she marveled at the forest's quiet beauty. Her arm was linked around Jack's, and the spirit felt like a gentleman escorting his lady.

He grinned as the familiar light of mischief gleamed in his eyes. "You know what would make it better?"

Jack unlinked his arm from Elsa's as bent down to dig around in the snow. Here the snow wasn't powder-fine like that near the lake, and so Jack easily molded it into a snowball. He turned to Elsa with a sly grin on his pretty features, and she narrowed her eyes at him, daring him.

"Jack," She said warningly, before the spirit threw the snowball to where it smacked into her shoulder, snow dust flying into the air. He turned and ran from her with his laughter ringing in the air like bells. He leaped up a tree and gazed around, searching the forest for the flash of a bright blue dress.

_SMACK!_

He felt the snowball slam into the back of his neck, the sudden sensation causing him to gasp. He spun around and nearly fell off of the branch doing so, looking down at Elsa standing with her hands on her hips and a playful grin gracing her lips.

"Come down here before I send a blizzard to get you," She chirped up at the spirit. Jack raised his hands in playful defeat as he leaped down from the tree. Little did Elsa know about the snowball Jack hid under his coat, gathered during his sprint.

In a flash, he pulled it out and threw it at her, daring enough to let it smack square into her face. Jack felt his eyes crease with laughter at the stunned look on the queen's face, but the laughter ceased when he saw the glint in her eyes.

"You've challenged the wrong person to a snowball fight, Jack Frost," She said, and the way she bit out his name, so playful and mocking, sent a delicious shudder down the winter spirit's spine.

"You're wrong," Jack replied airily, moving into a mock fighting pose, his cane held steadily towards her. "I've challenged the perfect person."

Snow, snow everywhere. It zipped through the air and onto the trees and clung in bits to their hair as the snowball fight of the century commenced. Jack's snowballs were small and quick, and they whizzed towards Elsa like white bullets.

Elsa was better at defense, however, and although her snowballs were bigger and slower they hit Jack harder than he thought it was possible for snowballs to hit a person. And it felt wonderful, to finally throw snowballs at a person who could fight back. He was good at starting these small battles between children, but never had the challenge of dodging any himself.

His joy was suddenly and cruelly caught off guard when he looked up to see a large wave of snow tower over him before he was completely covered in it. He poked his head out from the large snow pile and tsk'd at Elsa. "Hey now, that's unfair."

Elsa's laughter was quickly becoming Jack's favorite sound in the world. "Unfair, is it?" She asked him as he began to climb out of the snow drift, his cheeks and nose red from the snow's sting. "Yes, your highness," Jack said with no small amount of amusement in his voice as he stalked playfully towards her.

Elsa's eyes widened and a swath of pink colored her cheeks as she watched the spirit walk towards her in brisk strides, a smirk on his face as bits of snow fluttered off his clothes and hair. He looked beautiful like this, she thought privately, surrounded in his element.

Then, like a small child would do, she stuck her tongue out at him playfully and turned to run. She didn't make it very far, however, before long arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her against a hard, lean body. She gasped, her cheeks turning a brilliant scarlet as Jack's lip grazed her ear, his breath chilling it.

"Gotcha."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frozen 2 is really good by the way! Gorgeous movie. Now I'm wondering if there's a chance for a Guardians 2 (Probably not, but a girl can dream)


	3. Broken Palace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Tell me, your highness," Pitch turned his head and asked the insensible Elsa with a voice like an abyss, dark and deep and treacherous, "did my friend on the moon grant you this gift of ice?"
> 
> Pitch turned back to look at Jack with a wicked gleam in those silver-gold eyes of his. "Is that so?" He continued in his slow, methodical way like a spider playing with its captured bug. "Well…I would love to pull you apart, piece by piece, my dear lady, and see from the inside what makes you so special."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uuuugh I have to work six days in a row and I just want to die

The time around them ceased to function properly as Jack held Elsa close to his chest, feeling the queen's heart pound against his ribcage like a frightened bird beating against its metal prison. The spirit frowned.

Something was wrong.

"Please," Elsa's voice came out in a dry rasp, "let go of me."

Jack released his arms around her just as she attempted to push herself away from him, and something splintered inside of Jack as she turned to stare at him through clouded eyes, her cheeks sucked of their normally rosy hue. He opened his mouth, a second passing by before the words in his mind left his lips. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," Elsa stated flatly, stroking her arms as if she were trying to brush off the remnants of Jack's touch. "It's just…I can't…" She tensed a bit and held herself more tightly, turning away from Jack to stare into the green expanse of the forest. Jack felt the splinter cut into his lungs as he filled the empty space in the air with the words, "I understand."

He'd moved too fast with Elsa. He'd known her since her first breath, but she'd only known him for a few hours. As much as he longed to brush his fingers over her ivory skin and run them through her soft white hair, and hold her close and just smell her and feel her, finally given this chance since forever…

…he would never, _ever_ touch her if she didn't want him to.

They stood there silently as the seconds sluggishly ticked by, the air thick with something tense and bitter, before Elsa said something so soft and tiny that it almost escaped Jack's ears. "Jack," she said with a brittle voice, "When you were watching me all those years…did you ever…?" Her voice stilled suddenly like it had caught in a fist, and Jack could feel it struggling to release itself.

She turned back to look at the spirit and when she broke her voice free again, it sounded gray and heavy. "Did you ever…look at me…"

_Naked._

Once again, Jack felt the heat rise through his body and into his face, burning it hotter than the summer sun. "N-no," He finally stuttered out, his words thick and clumsy, "I never did. I promise you." Elsa stood still, and Jack could see her throat tighten as she looked at him with hard blue eyes.

Then they softened a bit when they saw the honesty that shined pure and raw on his face. He wasn't lying. "Even when you had all the chance in the world," the queen said quietly, "you never took it."

They walked through the forest a while longer until night fell over the land, but the comfortable silence that hung between them had been warped into an atmosphere that was tight and awkward. The tension buzzing between them was growing into something unbearable to the spirit, and he opened his mouth to say something, anything to shatter the wall that had been built between them when Elsa spoke again.

"Why didn't you ever look at me?"

The subject had reared its ugly head once more as Jack felt his face, no, his entire body break into a cold sweat. Why did she want to know?

"I never wanted to because-" Oh Moon, why did it decide to place Jack into this, "because I knew that you wouldn't have appreciated it. I respected your privacy, even when-"

"Even when you were sure I would have never found out." Elsa finished for him with a voice that hinted amusement. "I never did feel that chill whenever I undressed or bathed. You are quite the gentlemen." Jack didn't quite know what to say to that, so he left her words to hang in the air between them as the invisible wall began to crumble a bit, pieces falling into the snow behind them.

"You were never tempted to look." Moon, why wouldn't she release this damned subject? What answer was she searching for in Jack, what could she possibly pull from his lips that would make her satisfied?

Jack couldn't find it in himself to lie. He was sure that even if he did lie, she could see the lie hanging transparent in the air, and then her trust in him would fall apart. When he replied, it felt like he was chewing on pebbles. "I wouldn't say that. Elsa, if you're wondering that I don't think you're pretty enough to be seen…without clothes, you must be blind to every mirror you walk by. You're-"

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack noticed Elsa's figure tighten suddenly as if she'd been wound with piano wire. "We need to go back," She said in a voice hard like stone, "Something's happened at the palace. I know it has."

She turned towards him suddenly, and their chests bumped together. Whatever she felt, she showed it through the panic in her eyes. Jack almost asked for her permission to touch her again, but she'd already granted it with her arms twisting around his neck and holding tightly. There wasn't time to ask that question, anyway.

He aimed his staff towards the ground and catapulted them both up into the white sky, and flew them both back as fast as he could summon his energy into the staff. He felt the pulse of Elsa's spirit, a nervous rhythm that seeped into her fingers and frosted the part of Jack's coat that her fingers were clenching tightly to. She'd only been this scared once before.

The closer they got to the crystal palace, the more a sense of cold, dark dread wrapped its black tendrils around Jack's insides and gripped them almost as tightly as Elsa held him. He ran over the wind currents fast enough to make his legs sting, until he could see just over the tip of the largest mountain Elsa's palace. But there was something horribly wrong with it.

It was no longer bright and sparkling like crystals in the cold mountain air. The whole palace was covered in something pulsing and black, and the aura that thickened the air about it seemed completely and unapologetically evil.

_No, no, oh Moon no._

He felt Elsa clench onto his coat even tighter, if that was possible, and if Jack hadn't been immune to frost he was sure he would have been turned into an icy sculpture already. "It's so black," Elsa said in a voice bordering on panic, "who made it like this?"

Jack felt the name bite against the inside of his throat, sharp like a dagger. He kept it to himself.

_Maybe she won't be able to see him. But what if she can?_

The two of them landed on the ground as quickly as Jack could allow, and the second their feet touched the cold earth, Elsa broke herself away from the winter spirit and began to run towards the palace, still black and shifting and ominous as an abyss. "No! Elsa, stop!" Jack cried out, but his voice reached deaf ears. He shot himself towards Elsa, having no other choice but to tackle her underneath him into the snow. She immediately began to thrash against him, pushing and slapping and using all of her strength to shove him off of her.

Then he sensed another spirit inside of the palace, no, three spirits, _four_ spirits trapped inside of the black prison, and they were screaming so loudly Jack thought he would go deaf. One of them felt very familiar to him, a bright fiery spirit that used to light up the dark corners of the Arendelle castle.

It was-

"Anna!" Jack heard Elsa shriek as she punched and kicked upwards at Jack, her icy powers drying up dead on his skin. "She's in there! I can feel her! _Release me_ _at once!"_

He couldn't let go of her, even when he felt Anna's soul crying out towards him like a caged animal. Running into that black fog would be suicide. He spoke to her, mustering all his strength into making his words calm and still as his hands struggled to keep her firmly against the ground. "No, I'll go. You need to stay here, Elsa, you have to."

"The hell I will!" Elsa bit out, her words shrill with near frenzy. "Whatever's in there, it has my sister! Please," she said to him in a voice choked with tears, "Let me go. Anna, she's in danger and I can't let her die, not like our parents did." Those words froze Jack; it cut him deep into the bone to see Elsa like this, her eyes betraying the fear that her only family left in the world could perish at any moment with the last words between them being those as harsh and brittle as broken glass. With no small effort his arms slackened and let go of her, and as she stood up and began her sprint towards the pulsing black fog he ran close on her heels.

They ran over the staircase and through the large front doors gaping open like Jack and Elsa had been expected. Jack had been anticipating _him_ to be waiting on the both of them, perhaps casually strolling about the room or looking out of the window towards the vast white mountainside like he thought the place charming, and stupid.

But the room was empty. Empty except for two bodies lying in the middle of it, frighteningly still. One of them was Anna, and the other was…the blonde boy that had been there so many years ago. Small black things were spinning over their heads, shifting into different images that made Jack feel ill just looking at them.

Elsa didn't see the boy. All her eyes could focus on was the little figure with bright copper hair lying silently on the ground, like she had been lying there all those years ago when Elsa's ice caused her to lapse into a coma.

The queen ran and fell to her sister's side, gently shaking her in the bitter hope that Anna was merely sleeping. When no response came from her hands and pleading whispers, Elsa turned to Jack for an answer, her eyes shining with tears.

"Do you know what's happened to her?"

The spirit's face turned solemn as he replied, "They've been put into a deep sleep. She's not hurt…at least, not physically." Curiously, a small snowman stood next to Anna, its little stick arms and head pulled downward as if it were asleep. There was also a reindeer that lay unconscious beside the boy, little black carrots dancing over its head. Looking harder at the snowman recalled a faint memory to Jack, but he pulled his focus back to Elsa when she asked,

"Who did this to them?"

The name that came to mind was treacherous and taboo, full of dark secrets. It felt like needles on his tongue. "It's Pitch Black."

Her eyebrows knit together as she stared at him, cradling her sleeping sister in her arms. "Who is that?"

Jack suddenly felt a prickling sensation crawl over his skin, and his eyes widened in alarm. Pitch was everywhere in the palace, seeping through the walls, hiding in the corners, crawling over the floor.

Standing right over Elsa.

"Elsa-!"

Jack wasn't able to aim his staff fast enough as a large wave of onyx sand slammed him into one of the walls, hard enough to make web-like cracks splinter through the ice. Jack fell to the floor gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of him and he aimed his staff at the black figure, channeling all of his anger into the next bolt of frost. The spike of energy flew towards Pitch, but he casually shot a wall of black to guard himself against the attack; it absorbed into the sand and hardened into a grotesque statue of ice and darkness.

The spirit cursed at himself for having been caught off guard, and he heard Elsa's cry of alarm as he shot himself towards the black wall and crashed through it, shards of black ice flying through the air and cutting into his face. He saw that Elsa had created her own barrier of ice against the dark creature, a half-sphere that shielded her and the unconscious victims from the black sand.

It was thick and formidable, but Jack knew that it wouldn't be enough for very long.

"Jack!" The winter spirit heard Elsa's frantic cry muffled through the thick wall of ice as her blurry figure leaned protectively over Anna. Pitch was out of sight, but definitely not out of the castle as Jack could feel his aura stinging the air like needles on his spine. His presence was slithering everywhere around the room.

And then Pitch's voice rang melodiously in the air, thick with amusement. "Two beings gifted with the power of cold. This is more rewarding than I thought it would be." His voice was large and ugly, and Jack felt a cold knot tighten in his stomach as he glanced about the room, gripping his staff hard enough to whiten his knuckles.

"Leave now," Jack heard himself hiss through clenched teeth, "and I might let you go in one piece." He couldn't fight Pitch when Elsa and her sister lay vulnerable to the lord's powers. Even with her own capabilities, Elsa wasn't going to last long battling the ruler of darkness while surrounded in his kingdom.

A dark chuckle rumbled throughout the room and shook the floor. Jack's jaw tightened even more. "Do you really think you're in the position to make those demands?" Pitch's voice came suddenly behind Jack, making him whip around and aim his staff towards the black spirit. There Pitch stood before him, a slender tower of a figure, and the look on his face too dark and heavy to be called a smile. The knot in Jack's stomached coiled sickeningly just looking at him.

"After all," Pitch continued in a low hiss, "your friend's wrapped tight in a ball of ice, and you have sand crawling up your leg as we speak."

Jack's eyes widened and he looked down to see something black slithering up his body, and he slammed his staff into the ground, loosening the sand long enough for him to leap away. But Pitch just chuckled again as Jack suddenly felt even more of the shifting blackness wrap itself around an ankle and slam him against the ground hard enough to make the spirit see white.

Snarling through the pain as he heard Elsa scream his name once more, Jack tried to twist himself out of the sand, aiming his staff towards Pitch, or rather the three Pitches wavering in his unsteady vision. But what he saw made him cease to strike.

Pitch's sand had slithered over the whole of the half-sphere of ice, delicately feeling the barrier for a weak spot, eagerly seeking the life within. "No!" Jack yelled, and without another thought he turned his staff to shoot at the writhing mass of black.

Bad idea. The cold energy struck at the sand and made it retaliate, but only for a second. Then it started to seep through the small hole Jack had created through the ice. Panic gripped Jack's insides like a steel vice, and he turned to strike at Pitch once more, but the dark lord had already disappeared as his voice rang through the air.

"Thank you for that bit of help," Pitch's voice said, hard and mocking.

_Idiot, idiot, IDIOT!_

The ball of ice suddenly erupted, shattering glassy bits all throughout the room with a noise like thunder. Jack stood hard on his feet, letting the ice whip through the air past him, cutting into his legs, his arms, his face, leaving the sleeves of his coat a tattered mess.

Pitch stood in the middle of the dark room now, and he was holding an unconscious Elsa in mid-air, bright blue fabric clenched in a dark fist. Pitch was looking at Elsa with a hungry gleam in his eyes that made a deep rage tighten the knot inside of the winter spirit.

Jack centered more of his energy into the tip of his staff, anger burning like a cold fire within. He'd been foolish enough to be caught off guard, and now he couldn't protect Elsa, or Anna, or anybody else who had fallen victim to Pitch.

"Just what I was looking for," the dark lord said in a deep rumble as he observed the queen dangling limply like a broken doll in his grasp.

"Let go of her," Jack hissed, centering his staff towards Pitch, but too afraid to strike lest he hit Elsa.

"And why would I do that?" Mocking amusement lined Pitch's voice as he stared at Jack like he was more of a nuisance than a threat. "This girl has something inside of her, something ancient and powerful that hasn't shown itself since you came into this world. Tell me, your highness," Pitch turned his head and asked the insensible Elsa with a voice like an abyss, dark and deep and treacherous, "did my friend on the moon grant you this gift of ice?"

Pitch turned back to look at Jack with a wicked gleam in those silver-gold eyes of his. "Is that so?" He continued in his slow, methodical way like a spider playing with its captured bug. "Well…I would love to pull you apart, piece by piece, my dear lady, and see from the inside what makes you so _special_."

_Fear will be your worst enemy._

A roar tore itself from Jack's throat as the burst of energy shot towards Pitch and hit him square in the chest. Pitch's eyes widened as if he didn't expected Jack to take the chance, but Jack had the precision of an eagle's eye in that moment of deadly anger. A grunt of pain echoed in the palace as Pitch dissolved into a mass of writhing sand, and Jack leaped forth to capture Elsa who dropped to the ground like a stone.

Elsa was pale as the moon in his arms, and twice as cold. But, against all of what Jack believed possible, a small noise left her lips as her eyes fluttered open dazedly. "Jack," She mumbled almost sleepily, clouded cerulean orbs blinking at his face, "Anna…is she…"

Jack heard small noises and shuffling like cloth on the ice floor. He turned to see that Anna and her companions were beginning to stir themselves back to life, albeit as slowly as a glacier. "She's fine," He reassured her with words soft like silk, "all of them are."

But they weren't for long.

"It's her! Grab her, quick!"

"My god, what has she done…?"

"The bitch thirsts for blood!"

Both Jack and Elsa shot their gaze towards the open doors, where Hans stood with a slew of guards, swords gripped in their hands and eyes gleaming with malice. Elsa was suddenly and fully awake now, and as she shot herself up from Jack's arms and readied her hands against Hans, the man with the blurry spirit, Jack felt Pitch's sand began its quick, slithering motion on the floor again.

He was going back towards Anna.

"Don't you _dare_ ," Jack growled, and he turned his staff as a burst of ice came forth and crashed into the shifting sand, freezing it into another morbid work of art. A clattering of heavy boots echoed in Jack's ears as he turned to see Elsa fighting her own demons, one hand pushing a guard towards the wall with a of barrier ice while the other shot forth spikes to rip through another guard's uniform and hold him still against the black crystal.

"Fight Pitch!" Jack heard Elsa yell through the storm of frost and shifting blackness, "keep them safe!"

A lump grew in Jack's throat. Elsa needed his help, but Anna and the boy needed it more. He held his staff with white knuckles and began to attack whatever puddles of sand dared to draw near Anna and the rest as they were now half-conscious and struggling to pull themselves away from the heavy, comatose like state that beckoned to them.

"My, she's strong," Pitch's voice marveled in Jack's ears as the winter spirit stood over Anna, who had regained her awareness now and was staring at the fight happening before her with panicked eyes, "I think she may be more suitable as my queen with that spirit of hers. Don't you think, Jack Frost?"

"Lay another hand on her," Jack hissed through tight lips as his staff froze the sand around them, "and you won't be breathing by the next morning light."

Pitch's laughed curled Jack's gut with its blackness. "I'll leave you and your little girlfriend for now…"

From the corner of his eye Jack saw Anna pull herself to her feet, and run towards her sister with feet fast like wind. "Elsa!" Anna screamed with a voice like ragged silk, "Stop!" Elsa stilled her hands, whipping her head around to see Anna sprinting towards her.

"But first…" Pitch's voice rumbled in a voice dripping black.

The sand turned itself away from Jack and slithered towards Anna. Jack aimed his staff at the mass, but it had already grabbed Anna's ankle and was wrapping itself tightly up her legs. Hans was close to Elsa now, too close as he raised his gleaming sword and leaped forward, death in his eyes.

"Let's have…"

Elsa whipped back towards the threat that tingled along her spine, and without thinking she turned and shot a burst of ice from her fingers towards Hans.

"A little…"

The writhing mass of sand that had latched itself to Anna's legs threw her into the air, right into the onslaught of Elsa's fury sparkling like snow dust.

**"Fun."**

Time had slowed into a horrific parade of stop motion as the gleam of ice sliced through Anna's chest, and into her heart beating furiously like a galloping horse. A small gasp, thin and hollow like a bird's bones, screeched in Jack's ears and froze his insides.

Anna fell to the ice with a small, inelegant thud. Another scream, this time from Elsa as she fell to the ground before her sister and clutched at her shoulders, futilely trying to shake her back to life. Hans stood frozen over the two of them, the weeping queen and her little sister with the frail, flickering soul. Then his eyes hardened with something bright and hot as he raised the handle of his sword and butted Elsa square in the head, knocking her still. Then he said to the remaining guards behind his shoulder, "Take this murderous bitch away."

Hans then turned to look at the boy, the reindeer and the snowman, staring at the sight before them with eyes wide like the moon. "And take him as a witness." He said while looking at the blonde, and the hard fire in his eyes gleamed bright and wicked.

The muted, heavy crack of something immense breaking around them, as Jack looked up to see that Pitch's sand had cracked the high, vaulted ceiling, splintering the ice and loosening it.

All around them, the crystal palace began to fall.


	4. Fortitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There is no time left." Elsa finally pulled her eyes from the floor to meet his gaze, and they were lackluster with grief. Jack could only remember the other time Elsa's eyes looked so dim, three years ago when she sat with her back to the door and her knees curled to her chest.
> 
> "Anna is dying, Jack. Because of me."

"Elsa?"

No response. The air in the dungeon cell was stale with age, and the walls seeped a special cold that bit into the bone.

"Elsa, please talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about, Jack."

The queen was shackled like a common prisoner in her own castle, slender white hands trapped in steel that Jack was trying to break, but to no avail. Elsa wasn't looking at Jack, her clouded gaze staring at the lines in the stone floor. Jack was still trying to break the chains with his staff, but no matter how hard he hit, the steel refused to yield.

He could only remember bits and pieces of when Elsa's ice palace had crumbled under the weight of Pitch's sand – gleaming bits of ice he shot into the air to make a barricade against the falling blocks of ice, letting the boy, reindeer and snowman escape without so much a scratch; the blonde boy had swooped the snowman under his arm and ran for the door with the reindeer close on his heels. The effort he put into making that barricade exhausted him, and he could only watch with blurry eyes as one of the guards hoisted Elsa over their shoulder like she were a heavy sack and fled the ruins with Anna tucked safely into Hans' arms. 'Safe'; what a horrible word to use with a man like Hans.

Jack's vision blacked out as a high whistle deafened his ears. When he awoke in the icy rubble of the palace with the moon high over his head, his first thought was getting back to Elsa as he followed her throbbing spirit to the dungeons of Arendelle. Now here he was, with Elsa chained and defeated on the floor, and they were running out of time fast.

Jack looked at Elsa with determined eyes.

"Yes, there is. There's the threat of Pitch returning. You need to break out of these shackles and find Anna while there's still time."

"There is no time left." Elsa finally pulled her eyes from the floor to meet his gaze, and they were lackluster with grief. Jack could only remember the other time Elsa's eyes looked so dim, three years ago when she sat with her back to the door and her knees curled to her chest.

"Anna is dying _,_ Jack. Because of me."

Elsa's voice was shattered into a thousand little pieces on the floor.

Jack swallowed the rock in his throat as he looked at the shackled queen, at one time so bold and brilliant- but now a shadow dimmed her bright spirit and darkened her beautiful features. He could feel the candle flicker of Anna's own spirit in the castle, slowly growing fainter as ice seeped into her heart. It tore his own heart apart to feel her struggle.

The winter spirit bent down to the floor where Elsa sat on her knees, her shoulders hunched as if she were holding the weight of something immense. He reached out slowly towards her face, pausing to see if she would move away from his touch. But she didn't, and her eyes stared numbly into Jack's when his fingers brushed over her pale cheek.

"Yes," He said quietly in the dark to her, "she is dying. But she isn't dead, and I know you can help her." Elsa stared quietly at him, not bothering to ask how. How it would be possible to save her sister struck ill from her own powers.

But she did ask something else, and it came out as a delicate brush against his face. "How long have you been here?"

Jack was a little taken aback by this question. "What do you mean?"

"How long have you lived on this earth? One hundred years? Two hundred?" Her voice came out as a dry whisper, the life sucked from it.

The spirit had to think for a moment. Since he became immortal, many of his days blended together into one long, steady blur. Time mattered little when he didn't exist in its passage. "Around two hundred, I think."

"Then you have seen many others die before. How do you know Anna isn't soon to be one of them?"

"I…you know that there are some things that can't be explained from the head."

Elsa stared at him a moment longer, and the noise that left her lips was too soft to be a sigh. She leaned her body forward and rested her head against Jack's chest, blonde-white hair brushing his tattered cloak. Jack stilled as he felt Elsa listen to the steady beating of his heart. "If you can't explain it from your head," Elsa said in a hollow whisper, "then explain it from here."

Jack breathed in deeply, feeling the weight of Elsa's head as he did this. He smelled her warm vanilla musk with every breath he took and he found this very comforting. Then he began softly, "When I came into this world as Jack Frost, I spent nearly every day of my life around other people who never saw me. Some were good, some were bad, some would help an injured dog on the road while others would nudge it out of the way. I've been around nearly every kind of person you can imagine. At least, I thought I did…until I met you."

From somewhere in a distant part of the castle, Jack felt Anna's spirit flare suddenly, before softening back into its fragile flicker. "Go on," Elsa breathed against his chest. So he did.

"I remember the day you were born more clearly than I have ever remembered anything. When I heard you, Elsa, I knew you had something in you that very few others would see in their lives. And then, it wasn't just your gift that kept me watching over you- it was how you used it. You used it to bring joy to Anna, you loved to see her laugh and run in the snow. You might have never used it otherwise, if it didn't make her happy."

Another deep breath as he closed his eyes and inhaled sweet softness. Even though the cell was cold and bitter, Elsa's warmth was all Jack could feel. "I stayed around all those days, praying one day that you may see me, that you'd fully accept having this power of yours. And when you finally did, it was the most incredible thing to happen to me. You, Elsa," He breathed out her name, and for a moment it felt like he was in a dream, hazy and nebulous, "are the first person to ever truly believe in me."

He felt the shift of Elsa moving away, and he looked down to stare into eyes deep and curious. "I am?" Elsa sounded like a child, gentle and full of wonder. Jack thought back several years ago to when she read Anna the story about him. How her eyes lit up for that fraction of a second, and how he knew that if she had turned, if she had just looked behind her to where the chill was coming from…

A simple response that carried a wave of emotions and ran deeper than the ocean. "Yes, you are."

_It's funny. Even though I've lived for centuries, every day felt like the same day, a vicious cycle lasting forever. Nothing changed, the people never changed. Time and everything else flew by. But then it all stopped at the sound of your voice._

_Everything about you burns into my memory that no passage of time can erase._

He could spend the rest of his eternity gazing into her eyes, filled with everything and something running even deeper behind them. His hand on her back moved itself as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to where her breath tickled his lips. She was cold, yet so warm at the same time. He wanted…he needed…he loved…

There wasn't time for it. Both he and Elsa knew that. "I know you can save her," He said, not daring to raise his voice above a whisper that brushed her lips.

A sudden, hollow noise like cold metal cracking. He looked down to see the shackles on Elsa's hands fracturing, breaking apart like flimsy pieces of wood. All around them, frost began to crawl up the walls and break apart the stone as it fell to the floor in bits.

Jack unwrapped his arm from Elsa's back as the queen stood up, and her eyes glimmered brightly at him, the sparkle of determination.

"Then let's."

* * *

From another part of the castle, in a vast, sparsely furnished room, Hans stood with his hands behind his back gazing into the hearth fire. A small smirk graced his handsome features as he recalled the words he had said to the dying Anna.

There he laid her on the couch, watching as her eyelids fluttered back into consciousness and the name of her sister left her lips in a tight, wistful sigh. Then she came back into focus and saw Hans standing over her, holding her hand protectively, lovingly.

"Hans," she whispered. Her hair had several white streaks in it, winding around the copper locks that were left. She reached up and grabbed his shoulder, clutching it frailly. "Hans," she said again, panic edging her voice. "I'm…so cold, and…it hurts to breathe."

"I know, darling," Hans whispered soothingly, reaching with his free hand to brush over her cheek. "Where's Kristoff?" Anna asked him, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Kristoff is in another part of the castle. He's being held as a witness to what happened in the mountains. And Elsa, she's…in the dungeons."

A cry left Anna's throat, but it was strained and tired. "She didn't hurt me…on purpose. It was…an accident. She shouldn't be down there." She had to stop and take a few painful breaths as the very act of speaking hurt her.

"But she must stay in the dungeons for now, Anna. Arendelle sees her as a threat, and the safest place for her to be is down there." Hans said it in the sweetest, most reassuring voice he could manage. On the inside, he danced with glee as he watched Anna's eyes flicker with pain.

"I heard once, a long time ago," Anna began to say, her voice strained from the cold inside of her, "that when the heart is struck with ice...the only way to heal it is through true love." Her hand tightened around his weakly as she looked into his stormy gaze. "You have to kiss me, Hans. I need...the kiss of my true love."

"The kiss of a true love. Of course," Hans breathed out as he cupped Anna's chin with his hand and leaned forward, closer and closer until her breath grazed his lips. She was such a sweet, frail thing, he thought. And so, so naïve.

He stopped before their lips brushed, and a wicked grin curled his lips.

" _Oh, Anna. If only there was someone out there who loved you."_

And now here he stood, after telling Anna his whole plan of marrying her for the sole purpose of killing Elsa and taking over the kingdom of Arendelle. It had all been so easy to watch Anna, that foolish little girl, take off after Elsa like she thought she could change anything. And all Hans had to do was act like he cared for her.

His fingers grazed over the key he had in his pocket, the key he used to lock the door of the room that Anna was trapped in. He knew that they were going to come to him soon, and ask him how Anna was faring. And he would say to them in his most convincing, sorrow-filled voice that Anna had died, and died from her own sister's cruel hands. Elsa would need to be executed by treason, and then Hans would regretfully have to take the rule of Arendelle into his own hands. Everything had clicked together smoothly with him barely moving a finger.

Elsa wasn't to be executed, though. She was part of a bargain he'd made.

And the one he made the bargain with was now standing beside the room's large window, shadows swirling on the floor and all around him and seeping from his skin.

Hans' smile grew bigger. "I kept her alive, just for you."

The dark figure's voice rang melodiously in the air, a voice that should only be heard only in nightmares. "That you did."

Hans turned to look at Pitch, standing in the room like a tower of black as his smile mirrored Hans' with its cruelty. "And now," Hans replied, sweeping his arms forth, "you get Elsa, and I get the kingdom. She's waiting for you in the dungeons."

But Pitch didn't move. He stared at Hans with his silver-gold eyes gleaming like crystal as Hans began to grow uneasy. "What's wrong?" The brunette finally asked, keeping his voice from betraying his nervousness. "I said she was waiting for you. She's all yours."

"There is…a small problem that's keeping me from claiming her just yet. A spanner thrown into the works that needs to be removed."

"What is it?"

Pitch's eyes narrowed and flickered with something that gripped Hans' insides with something cold. "A boy," Pitch finally stated with a voice seeping darkness, "that damned spirit named Jack Frost."

"Jack…Frost?" Hans asked incredulously. "Like the fairy tale? You must be joking."

Pitch's gaze nearly bore a hole into Hans' skull. "I'm not. He was the one protecting Elsa in the mountains. He kept me from taking her."

"And what does that have to do with me? I didn't expect a myth to complicate our plans." Hans swallowed a bit when Pitch finally began to move forward towards him, gliding over the carpet and making the man take a few nervous steps back.

Pitch replied to him in a low hiss, "Well, he did anyway. And someone has to pay the price of me not getting what I want, when I want it."

Another 'step' from Pitch elicited two more steps back from Hans. It was wonderful to feel the fear in the human, pounding against his chest. Pitch inhaled and felt himself grow inebriated with it, the terror flowing smooth, thick and sweet like honey. It was what he _thrived_ on.

And when he spoke to Hans again, his voice came out in a low, nightmarish rumble.

"You'll do nicely."

The shadows seeping through the corners of the room shaped themselves into black tendrils, stretching towards Hans and striking a primitive fear inside of him- the fear of darkness. "No, no, _no!"_ Hans's voice shrieked as he tripped backwards and fell onto the carpet, blackness slithering towards him.

Hans backed away frantically until he bumped into the wall, and he tried futilely kicking away the onyx tendrils that began to slither over him, whispering of nightmares and eternal darkness -of hell. Hans had made the terrible mistake of thinking that he had been more than a pawn on Pitch's chessboard. How deliciously foolish of him.

" _We had a deal!"_ Hans nearly howled with terror as the black sand slowly began to cover him, curling over his legs, his arms, his face pale with dread. Pitch drank in the sight in all its sickly sweetness.

"Dear boy," Pitch's laugh was black and gleeful, "Fear doesn't make deals."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys had a merry Christmas! Or a happy holiday otherwise.


	5. Fury, Black & White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You don't stand a chance against me alone," Pitch hissed into the winter spirit's ear as the swirling white and black engulfed Elsa's running figure.
> 
> "Maybe I don't," Jack hissed back, "but I'll die a thousand times over before I ever let you hurt Elsa."
> 
> Pitch's voice was gritty and black, an unholy mixture of anger and glee. "I'll make sure you will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly not too happy with this chapter, but it's better than the first draft I guess. Also, happy late new year's everyone!

Falling.

Jack was falling through the air fast, his heart pounding in his eardrums almost drowned out the hiss of the wind tearing through his ears and hair. He saw his hand stretched out before him, groping for his staff silhouetted by the moonlight but his fingertips barely grazed over the wood. He was hundreds of feet above the earth, but that number was dropping quickly.

In his mind, a memory was chanting itself, over and over again:

" _Can you read this to me?"_

_Elsa turned to see the book that her little sister was holding, cerulean eyes tracing over the silver cursive letters contrasting against the black cover. She arched an eyebrow at Anna._

" _Are you sure? It might be too scary for you."_

_Anna huffed a bit before shoving the book closer towards Elsa, the look of child's bravery etched on her features. "I'm sure it's not that scary. Come on, please?"_

_Both of them were in the library, standing in one of the aisles with the bookcases towering over the two of them. Elsa was putting away the book they had just read about the legend of the Easter Bunny, a nice picture book with a dark green cover; it lay nestled between Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause. The book Anna was holding was one she'd found shoved into the corner of a bookcase, as if it were begging to be forgotten; all the more to spike little Anna's determination to read it._

_Elsa smiled a bit and took the book from Anna, leading them back to the pile of pillows next to the window with Jack strolling behind the two of them. Anna plopped onto her favorite pillow, a large and fluffy one, as Elsa settled beside her and opened the book._

_With her eyes glancing over the words, she began to read._

" _The Legend of the Bogeyman…_

" _The Bogeyman is a creature who lurks in the dark corners of children's bedrooms. Parents use the Bogeyman to frighten their children if they misbehave, for this entity loves to feast on the fear of a naughty child."_

" _Ooh," Anna breathed with wide eyes, a small finger poking at the drawing in the book. "Does he really look like that?"_

_The older princess pursed her lips at the picture. "I don't know- I've never seen him before." Anna cuddled closer to Elsa as she stared at the rather sinister drawing; it showed a dark cloud in the vague, uneasy shape of a man looming over a sleeping boy. Pitch, as far as Jack knew, didn't just have one shape- he came in all different forms of terror, using the night as his cloak._

_Elsa continued, albeit the tiniest shade slower. "He prefers to scare children by entering their minds while they sleep, turning their dreams into nightmares." She turned to look at her sister, whose little hand was clutching at her arm while she listened to the story. Anna looked at her with wide blue eyes. "I don't like him at all- he's scary," she said in a tiny voice. Elsa laughed bit as she started to close the black book._

" _I don't think you're supposed to like him. He tries to scare us, after all." Elsa reached to the side to grab another book lying patiently on the floor beside the pillow pile, one with a dusty orange cover and golden lettering. She grinned at Anna while she set the black book on the shiny wooden floor._

" _Let's read the one about the nice man who gives us dreams now."_

Jack's hand reached out as far as it would go, his arm stinging from the effort. His fingers grazed the wood once, twice- and then the staff was finally within his grasp.

And not a moment too soon.

He aimed his staff towards the earth – now a mere thirty feet from his plummeting body- and shot a bolt of energy that slammed into him and stole his breath. It was startling, although not as hard as it would've been with the ground. He jumped over the currents of wind and threw the next spark of ice against the black shifting sand racing towards him in the form of a stallion.

The spark hit the horse and froze it, a vengeful whinny reaching Jack's ears before it exploded into a mass of darkness. Useless, their efforts were all useless. The sand would only be reformed into another bloodthirsty stallion, again and again and again until the energy was sucked from Jack and Elsa and their efforts diminished.

Both he and Pitch knew that. "Stop playing the hero, Jack," he heard the ugly growl of the dark spirit in his ears, "and just give up. I promise Elsa won't mind being on the throne beside me as you think she will."

"Then you don't know Elsa," Jack spat into the air as his feet touched the earth. All around him a blizzard raged, howling like a tempest as Elsa stood beside him, shooting bolt after bolt of ice against the black horses that sped toward them on eerily silent hooves. They didn't have time to fight Pitch. They needed to find Anna.

"Go, Elsa," Jack yelled over the screaming wind, "you have to help her!" The queen turned to look at Jack with a tight frown, her hair having been pulled out of its braid a long time ago and was now haggardly framing her face. "I can't leave you here alone!" She screamed back as her fingers froze yet another black horse who'd come too close for comfort. He saw it in her eyes though, swirling with doubt – she needed to save Anna, her dear little sister with the flickering spirit that had kept her own spirit warm for so long.

Jack stepped closer to her and grabbed her by her shoulders, staring into her shining cerulean eyes. The icy wind roared around them harder than ever as the Pitch's horses began to obliterate back into ebony, shifting masses of sand that swirled around the two of them like a storm. The noise was deafening.

But when Jack held Elsa close and put his lips to her ear, brushing the soft skin, his voice muted everything with its melodious rumble.

"Go. She's in the second wing of the castle, the room where you used to play together with dolls. She needs you." He pulled back and nodded at her, into her eyes brimming with un-spilled tears. "I'll be fine."

And with that, Elsa turned and began to run through the blizzard, freezing her way through the hordes of black sand with the endurance of a warrior- any horse that dared to draw close enough was splintered into dark dust that scattered into the wind.

"You don't stand a chance against me alone," Pitch hissed into the winter spirit's ear as the swirling white and black engulfed Elsa's running figure. Jack's face darkened as he whipped around and shot a blast of ice that froze an entire stampede of stallions, and they exploded into an ocean of onyx that swirled around him.

"Maybe I don't," Jack hissed back, "but I'll die a thousand times over before I ever let you hurt Elsa."

Pitch's voice was gritty and black, an unholy mixture of anger and glee. "I'll make sure you will."

* * *

"Love is…putting someone else's needs before yours."

Anna turned to look at Olaf in the dim room's firelight, the little snowman with the goofy grin and the soft heart. His little sticks for arms were readjusting her cloak around her shoulders, trembling from the ice inside of her. "Is it?" She asked him, and he nodded at her, the carrot sliding down slightly on his melting face. He pushed it back up without thinking.

"Olaf," she said to him, her faint voice tinged with panic, "you're melting!"

But the little snowman gave her a smile that formed a lump in Anna's throat with its warmth.

"Some people are worth melting for."

Anna opened her mouth, a small noise of pain leaving it when the ice inside of her grew, biting into her insides. She knew she didn't have much time left.

"Olaf," she said to the snowman in a dull, husky voice. "I…want to see Elsa…I want to see her before I..." Her voice was laced with bitter tears as the pain inside of her throbbed. It hurt, so much. The fire did nothing for her except cast flickering shadows on the walls. As the palm of her hand dug into the carpet to keep her steady, Olaf braced her trembling body with alarm on his face.

"No! Anna, you're not going to-"

She looked into little Olaf's eyes, saw the concern in them, and felt the hot sting of tears run down her face. "Yes," She rasped out, "I will. And before I do…I want to see Elsa. Please take me to her. She's in… the dungeons."

Olaf looked into her trembling face pale with agony and stark white hair; and when he spoke again, his voice seemed broken, defeated.

"Of course."

It took immense effort for Anna to pull herself to her feet, and the ground seemed to shift beneath her as Olaf tried to support her through the long, dark hallways. It was deathly silent and empty, the only noises being the slow, heavy padding of Anna's feet and her raspy breathing.

Where did everyone go? She wondered.

Suddenly the patter of Olaf's little snowy feet stopped, forcing Anna to pause well in the shadowy hallway. "Olaf?" Anna questioned in a hoarse whisper.

"Do you hear that?" Olaf said to her in a small voice. "Something's coming towards us."

Anna strained her ears for anything above the deafening silence. And then she heard it- the calm, even steps of someone walking down the corridor, towards her and Olaf.

"Do you think it's Elsa?" She asked down towards the snowman, but the look in Olaf's eyes spoke of a deep dread that frightened her. "Whatever it is," Olaf whispered back to her, "it's not good." He started to tug Anna away, back towards the room where they first came. "M-maybe we can go out the window!" Olaf said to her with false hope, "you stay in the room and I'll tie together some bedsheets-"

But the figure was there before them suddenly, a tall shadow of a man looming over Anna and Olaf like a pillar of black. In the darkness, Anna could barely make out two slivers of golden-silver staring down at her and the snowman; the look in them chilled Anna's insides even further.

It was Hans standing before her; but it wasn't Hans. Somehow, it was something worse.

Anna saw the flash of steel gleam in the moonlight as notHans drew his sword and brought it down on the two of them, a tight gasp leaving Anna as she threw herself over Olaf and waited for the slice of the blade. But it never came – a crackling sound echoed in Anna's ears and through the hallway as she looked up to see the sparkling blue frost expanding over the black figure, freezing him into a statue that glittered in the dim light of the moon.

"Elsa?" Anna called weakly into the dark.

Sure enough, Anna and Olaf heard the padding of running feet down the hallway as the dim figure of Elsa emerged behind notHans, her white hair flowing unkempt around her face. "Anna," she whispered, shock tainting her voice at seeing her sister's hair as white as her own.

A cracking noise alerted the three of them towards the ebony statue of notHans, and much to Anna's horror the figure split apart and dissolved into a powdery blackness that slowly began to reassemble itself.

"You have to leave," Anna heard Elsa say, the queen's voice quiet and dangerous as she threw her hands out and began to refreeze the shifting sand, not with the purpose of stopping it, but merely postponing it.

"But Elsa-"

"Now!" Elsa's words were edged with steel. Anna knew now that she had no choice but to run with Olaf, perhaps outside where the break of dawn would soon cast its light over the dark corners and dissolve the shadows. Yet she also knew by the aching cold within her that the first light of the new day would be her last.

Anna felt the insistent tug of Olaf's hand on hers as she turned to give her sister a final goodbye, but saw Hans grabbing Elsa by the throat and thowing her down ruthlessly. Elsa slammed into the ground with a small cry before shooting her hand up, hitting Hans square in the face with a blast of ice, but it proved fruitless to the dark shapeshifter as he kicked her back onto the ground.

Anna's eyes grew huge at the spectacle as she wrenched her hand away from Olaf, stumbling across the hall towards where Hans had his boot placed on Elsa's chest, his sword raised above his head as Elsa grabbed at his leg, wheezing at the pressure crushing her lungs. Sword gleaming in his hands, he lunged down at Elsa's throat.

“No!” Anna screamed, using the last of her strength to throw herself against Hans before he could give the killing blow, knocking him off the queen and sending them both stumbling. Anna slammed Hans against the wall headfirst as hard as she could, knocking Hans unconscious before her legs gave out.

The cold in her body stilled her veins and numbed her mind, and by the time she collapsed from the pain, everything had turned to ice. She lay on the ground a statue now, her body permanently frozen into a curled pose of agony.

Elsa's voice broke the cold air, a hopeless gasp of "Anna…"

* * *

Outside, Jack was slammed against the stone wall of the castle, his fingernails scraping along the hand that gripped his throat and stole his breath as his staff lay broken on the ground beside him. He stared into silver-gold eyes glittering hard like diamonds as Pitch leaned forward, his lips tight with anger as his words brushed Jack's face in a breathy hiss, "I've let this go on for too long. I'll break your spirit, over and over again until you realize that fighting me is futile. And when I'm done with you, I'll take Elsa and show her that ruling through fear is the only way to rule."

The words struck a place deep inside of Jack, and he snarled at Pitch through clenched teeth, "Go to hell."

Pitch's grip tightened around Jack's throat, making spots dance in the spirit's vision. "Dear boy," the dark spirit sneered in that abysmal rumble that pricked Jack's eardrums like needles, " _I am hell_."

The flash of something bright in the corner of Jack's eye as something rose over the horizon. He saw the flicker in Pitch's gaze as the dark spirit's grip loosened just enough for Jack to struggle free, and Jack fell to the ground and grabbed the two broken parts of his staff, shoving them together and willing it to mend with all of his strength.

They finally molded back into one piece, the veins interloping and hardening as Jack began to walk towards Pitch, who was backing away from the winter spirit now. Pitch's eyes were sparking with alarm as all around him his horses began to shriek and burst into piles of black sand that dissolved when the light reached them. Morning had finally come.

"You're right Pitch," Jack said with a voice that was hard and bright as he twirled the mended staff in his hand, "you let it go on for too long. And now you're losing your element."

"You little wretch _,”_ Pitch snarled at him as he tried to move further and further away from the encroaching sunlight, dissolving his sand with a noise like a loud hiss, "this is only postponing the inevitable."

"Maybe it is," Jack bit back as he stilled his feet and leveled his staff at the slowly panicking Pitch, "but for now, the night's over- and so are you."

Focus, channel and release. The spark of energy slammed into Pitch's chest, and with an animalistic scream Pitch dropped to the ground and convulsed when the morning light spread over him. Pitch's body began to hiss and pop as he slowly dissolved, a grotesque mass of shifting sand that turned into dust and was swept into the wind. Jack observed the gruesome scene with blank eyes.

" _Only postponing the inevitable,"_ came Pitch's snarl with the emptiness of a tomb. And then the voice was gone with the black dust.

Jack stood there for a second or two before his knees buckled underneath him and he fell onto the ice. Exhausted barely scraped over how he felt; fighting Pitch for so long had viciously drained him, and now he wanted nothing more than to fall over into a deep sleep.

There was no time for rest, though; he needed to find Elsa and Anna.

A noise suddenly reached his ears then, soft and distant. The sound of sobbing.

Adrenaline drove Jack onto his feet and into the castle, as he followed the sound into a long hallway lit by the morning sun. What Jack saw made something shatter inside of his chest and cut into his insides.

Elsa was on her knees in the hallway, her arms wrapped tightly around something blue as she wept, her sobs broken and muffled. Jack looked at the kneeling figure, his eyes tracing over Anna's delicate face racked with pain and her icy hands clasped over her chest. Her gaze was dropped to the ground.

"No," he breathed out, and he didn't feel his legs as they carried him over to Elsa and he dropped beside her, beside Anna's frozen body. Between the broken sobs, Jack heard Elsa say in a voice heavy with tears, "I told her to leave. And now all I want is for her to come back."

A sudden bit of memory that flashed through Jack's eyes, the night of Elsa's coronation.

" _Elsa please, please, I can't live like this anymore!" Anna pleaded as her hands tightly gripped the smooth silk of Elsa's glove. She was sick of being shut out, sick of being left alone, sick of having no one to talk to but the paintings on the walls._

_Elsa looked back into her sister's eyes brimming with tears and said in a voice hard and smooth,_

"… _Then leave."_

Jack's hand reached out and placed itself on Elsa's back as he felt the same dull throb that radiated from her spirit as it had those three years ago. He said to her, softly, "You didn't mean it though." Elsa turned her gaze at him and her eyes flashed. "I did."

"But now you don't…you're the only one who can bring her back."

"How?" Elsa said in a tiny whisper that suddenly exploded, "how?! She's ice, Jack! _She can't come back!_ "

Jack's hand placed itself over hers, lacing their fingers together. "Yes she can."

_Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart._

Elsa's fingers tightened in his, and she turned to bury her face against Anna's icy back as her cries became soft and empty.

But then Jack felt the tiniest glimmer of something warm under his fingers, and that warmth began to grow stronger as something small flickered back to life. He could feel Anna's spirit struggling through the cold.

"Elsa…do you feel that?"

Slowly, the ice began to melt off of Anna, thawing to show the deep purple of her cloak, then her dress, then her skin. Then Anna's spirit finally burst through the ice, bright and warm as the sun outside. The frost dissolved fully now as a small breath escaped Anna's lips.

Elsa's sobbing ceased when she felt the warmth of Anna against her cheek. She pulled her head back and gasped as she saw her sister, warm and moving and _alive_ ….and smiling at her.

"Anna…y-you risked your life for me!"

Anna replies, warmth brightening every syllable, "Of course. Because I love you."

She pulled her sister into a hug, a cry of happiness that echoed in the hall as Jack put his hand to his lips and found that he was smiling too.

Elsa held her sister tight as she whispered into Anna's brightly colored copper strands, "I love you too, Anna."

A delighted gasp came from Olaf as he watched the two sisters embracing each other. His little stick arms waved excitedly as he exclaimed, "An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart!"

Beside Olaf lay the unconscious body of Hans; his skin was no longer steeped in shadows, Pitch's influence having been dissolved from it. He was no longer a soldier of darkness; now he was just a limp body beside a shattered steel sword.

Jack got up from where he knelt beside Elsa and walked up to the insensible Hans; the winter spirit tapped his staff against his shoulder, a small grin still gracing his lips. But then that smile was suddenly gone when a surprised gasp reached his ears.

"Elsa!" He heard Anna exclaim, "who's your friend? He's _cute!_ _”_


	6. Burning Bright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "In any case," Jack said with a finality that showed his eagerness to close the subject, "he won't be coming back any time soon. But even if he does…"
> 
> "We'll be ready for him," Elsa finished brightly as Jack felt something swell inside of his chest. Elsa carried a sort of confidence that had been out of her reach for the longest time, and it delighted Jack to see her like this- happy and sure of herself; that and her willingness to fight beside him once more if the need ever came.

Jack stood beside Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf on the docks as he watched the coronation guests board the ships and depart for their countries. Seeing Hans being led in chains to his own ship brought a smirk to the winter spirit's face as he thought about what happened between Anna and Hans a day earlier.

After Kristoff was released from the prison where he was being held, Hans had been dragged out of the hall into a nearby room, if only to be out of the way of others' feet while he lay in his black, comatose-like sleep. When he finally awoke some time later- with a very unattractive groan being the first thing to exit his lips- he found himself the target of several angry eyes staring down at him from where he lay sluggishly on the couch.

"What-what happened?" Hans asked with a surprising dash of sincerity in his voice. Elsa turned to Jack with questioning eyes. "Is he supposed to remember what he did?" Jack gave her a sly look in return before replying, "Not at all. But I'm sure the witnesses who've seen him under Pitch's influence are more than willing to testify his guilt." He gave a small nod of his head towards a maid who stood by the door, a thin whip of a girl with dark hair and large brown eyes.

Elsa gestured for the maid to come closer, and she did so with hesitant feet. "Moira," Elsa began coolly, "tell me again what you saw last night in the hallway." Moira uneasily clasped her hands together before replying, "I was asleep in my room, your highness, when I heard a most frightening noise coming from outside my door. Curiosity got me out of my bed and when I opened the door to peer outside, I saw-" at this point she raised a quivering finger towards Hans- "Prince Hans lurking down the hallway with sword in hand.

"At first I couldn't discern who he was, since he seemed blacker than the darkness around him; but when he turned at the sound of the door opening, I caught a glimpse of his face before I shut the door in fright."

Then the poor maid began to tremble a bit as she hugged herself with thin arms. "His eyes were- a very frightening thing to behold. I'm sure to see them in my sleep tonight." Elsa raised a hand and laid it lightly on Moira's shoulder, as Jack could practically taste the confusion rolling in waves off of Hans. "Thank you for the recount, Moira. Remember that I may need you to testify against Hans, but for now you have my leave."

"Thank you, your highness." And with a curtsy toward the queen and her sister, Moira walked out of the room with quick steps.

"Are-are you serious? I didn't do that!" Everyone turned their attention back to the baffled prince, who by now was making clumsy, frantic efforts to get off the couch. "Maybe you don't remember that," Anna said in a voice sparking with barely concealed fury, "but I'm sure you _do_ remember what you did to me last night."

Hans gave Anna a shocked and slightly leery gaze as the princess stood before him with crossed arms. "Anna? How are you still alive? She froze your heart."

"The only frozen heart around here is yours," Anna stated primly, and as she turned her back to Hans who was now staring at her with a mixture of disbelief and cocky anger, Jack could feel something bubbling inside of her.

_Do it._

Quick as lightening, the princess whipped around once more as the sound of her fist smacking against Hans' face bounced off the walls. Anna had a mean little punch that sent Hans flying back against the couch, toppling it over with the force.

"Atta girl," Kristoff chirped at Anna as she turned to them with a small grin on her face, smacking her fist into the palm of her hand; another memory to store fondly in Jack's mind.

When they walked outside, it was an incredible thing to see Elsa use her powers to restore green to the land as her outstretched arms brought forth waves upon waves of snow off of houses and streets, trees and flowers to swirl into the sky, molding into one giant, sparkling snowflake. And with a final wave of her arms, the massive crystal dissolved in the air, small glimmers of white that died in the blue sky. The air smelled sweet with spring now.

This time it was Jack's turn to say to the queen, "Atta girl." Elsa turned to him, her face rosy with happiness as she shrugged her shoulders. "Arendelle looks loveliest in the springtime."

Back to the present, where they stood on the docks as the sound of the Duke of Wesselton's nasally voice reached their ears, brimming with anger. Jack snorted a bit as he listened to the Duke yell something about wanting to see the queen.

Elsa stood quietly beside him as she pondered over something. " Jack," Elsa suddenly said in an uneasy voice that made Jack steel himself for something uncomfortable, "how did you go about…defeating Pitch?" Oh. A small sigh of relief inside of Jack.

"Well, it was pretty simple - I stalled him long enough to let the morning come. The light tends to make him weaker. Although," Jack furrowed his brow as the question biting the back of his mind for some time now finally came to his lips, "I didn't think he would be that vulnerable to it."

"Maybe lurking in the shadows for so long has crumbled his immunity against the light," Elsa replied after some bit of thinking, "that or there was more than just the light that he was afraid of."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked the queen, and she turned to him with blank features. "I don't really know." But deep in their stomachs they both knew what the answer was. It was a feeling that couldn't easily be formed into words.

"In any case," Jack said with a finality that showed his eagerness to close the subject, "he won't be coming back any time soon. But even if he does…"

"We'll be ready for him," Elsa finished brightly as Jack felt something swell inside of his chest. Elsa carried a sort of confidence that had been out of her reach for the longest time, and it delighted Jack to see her like this- happy and sure of herself; that and her willingness to fight beside him once more if the need ever came.

"We-ell," came Anna's voice behind the two of them as they turned to see the princess stretch her arms upward and grin as she wore a powder green dress that enhanced the fire in her hair, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm _completely_ famished." She turned to Kristoff, who was standing beside her- for the first time he wasn't wearing his coat, but instead he wore a blue shirt with a black vest over it. Jack could tell by the spark in Anna's eyes that she thought blue looked good on Kristoff.

"Does anybody else want to pig out with me?" Anna quipped, and almost immediately everyone raised their hand, including little Olaf bouncing around under his own little snow cloud. Jack was sure that if Sven had a hand to raise, he would be doing so too.

"Good," Anna said in a cheery tone, "because I heard they prepared a feast for us."

Anna wasn't kidding about the servants preparing a feast; the table in the dining hall was weighed down with all sorts of delicacies, ranging from roasted salmon to three different kinds of meat pies, not to mention insane amounts of chocolate. Jack stood with his mouth slightly agape at all of the food, and the look on Kristoff's face showed that he was unused to such a sight as well.

Elsa sat at the head of the table and gave the others a large grin. "It's been so long since I've sat in the dining hall for a meal." Meanwhile, Anna was squealing over the chocolate fondue fountain while Kristoff was holding Sven back from digging into the veggie bowl. Olaf stood in one of the chairs with his mouth agape while he poked at the uncut head of a fried duck. Jack laughed from where he stood beside Elsa, who was staring at the scene before her with amusement dancing in her eyes.

"I would tell Anna that she shouldn't ruin her appetite with chocolate just yet," Elsa said to Jack as she sliced a knife through the tender part of a roasted fowl, "but I think she's old enough now to decide what she wants to eat."

As the others finally settled down to fill their own plates, Elsa glanced over at Jack with a curious smile. "Don't you want anything to eat?" Jack shrugged a bit and replied, "Immortality means I don't have the need to eat."

He heard a gasp from Anna as she gulped down a chocolate-covered strawberry and turned shocked eyes towards Jack. "You mean you never eat? _Ever?"_

"Anna, who are you talking to?" A confused Kristoff asked past a mouthful of herring as Sven happily munched on a pile of carrots and apple slices that one of the servants laid out for him. Then Kristoff remembered whose company he was in and swallowed with a swathe of red on his cheeks. Anna turned to Kristoff with a playful little smile as she dipped a piece of bread into the fondue fountain. "What, you can't see him? I thought you of all people would be able to see Jack Frost."

Kristoff scoffed a bit. "Just because I like ice doesn't mean I'm into childish myths." Then he gave an uneasy glance towards Elsa. "I just find it a _little_ unsettling that the woman who's ruling over me keeps talking to the empty space beside her."

"Jack Frost?" Olaf asked as he tried to juggle some oranges from his seat; one was starting to look a bit soft from landing on the floor one too many times. "Who's that? He sounds like a fun guy."

The winter spirit crossed his arms and leaned towards Elsa, looking at Kristoff with a mischievous grin lighting his features. "Elsa, could you make a snowball for me?"

The queen turned to him with a bit of confusion in her voice. "What for?" Jack winked at her, and noted with delight the soft pink that warmed her face as he replied with, "You'll see." The sound of something cold and sparkling swirled into existence in the palm of Elsa's hand as she surreptitiously placed it in Jack's hand. "I hope you're not meaning to give him a cold," she whispered slyly as the spirit's smile grew wider.

Elsa watched him as he brought the small pile of snow to his lips and breathed into it, and the snow began to glitter a soft blue. Meanwhile, Anna was teasing Kristoff about something involving igloos while Kristoff was haughtily telling Olaf that he was bruising perfectly good oranges.

"Here," Kristoff said to the little snowman as he grabbed three more oranges from the large fruit bowl and held them in his hands, "this is how you juggle things, Olaf." He steadied his hands before tossing an orange into the air.

_SMACK!_

Jack's snowball hit Kristoff square in the face, the soft thud silencing everyone at the table as the orange bounced onto the wooden floor. Kristoff sat perfectly still for a moment, then two before he reached a hand up to wipe the snow from his scrunched eyes. He turned to look at the queen with an arched brow.

"Elsa, why di- hey! _Who are you?!"_

Glaring at Jack standing calmly beside Elsa's seat, Kristoff shot up from his own seat and grabbed Anna from her chair, pushing her behind him. "I don't know when you showed up, but if you don't back away from the queen right now-"

"Kristoff, you dolt!" Anna nearly shrieked with laughter as she stumbled out from behind Kristoff and grabbed his shoulder, "that's Jack Frost!" Kristoff whipped his head to look at her, then back at Jack, then back to her. His voice came out low with disbelief. "You're…joking, right?"

Jack chuckled, and with light feet he began to stroll towards Kristoff, who was staring at him with a face tilting between shock and uneasiness. "You're telling me," Jack began in a voice thick with amusement, "that you live in a world with talking snowmen, rock trolls, and girls with ice powers," he tapped his staff on his shoulder as he stood before Kristoff who was least a few inches above him, "but you find the spirit of winter something too implausible to exist?"

Kristoff's lips became tight, his face scarlet as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, when you put it like that…" Jack laughed and slapped Kristoff on the shoulder as he felt Elsa smile from her chair.

"I'm glad you see the truth now."

Suddenly Olaf shrieked from his chair as everyone turned to look at him with surprise. He held the bunch of oranges in his stick arms as he beamed with happiness. "Guys, I did it! I managed to juggle all of them at once! I- hey, you! Are you Jack Frost?!…did you see what I did?!"

Everyone's stunned silence erupted into laughter that made a few servants peek into the dining room out of curiosity; it had been a while since such a sound echoed in the castle halls.

"Olaf," Anna said with tears shining in her eyes from mirth as she picked up the little snowman from his seat and cuddled him close, "never change."

* * *

With the sweet smell of spring came the need to clean the castle. Sheets needed to be changed, floors dusted, windows wiped until they shined again. Anna was eager to roll up her sleeves and join in the bustling fray of spring cleaning, pulling Kristoff along to work beside her.

"I shouldn't be here," Kristoff muttered to himself as he scrubbed the wooden floor beside Anna until it gleamed like glass, "I should be in the mountains chopping up ice."

Anna turned to look at the blonde with a wide smile, and Kristoff bit his lip at how cute she looked with a smudge of soot on her cheek. "The ice can wait you know," she tossed back, "if there's one place where ice never thaws, it's in the mountains."

"Exactly," Kristoff said as he haphazardly tossed the brush into the bucket, causing a bit of water to splash onto Anna. "Hey," Anna laughed a bit as she nudged Kristoff's side with her brush, "be careful with how you handle that." Kristoff gave her a wily smirk and nudged her back.

"I'm not the one who let soot get all over my face from cleaning the fireplace."

Anna snorted a bit, an unladylike sound that made laughter bubble inside of Kristoff. "Who says you don't have any on yours? There's a spot right here," The redhead shot back as she reached her little hand up to poke Kristoff's nose, "and here," her finger poked his cheek, "and here," as she poked right between his eyes.

Kristoff chuckled and grabbed her hand in his, easily folding his fingers around it. "Oh yeah? Well, miss princess, you've got a little smudge here…" He used his free hand to poke at her cheek, feeling it flush with warmth.

"…and here," as he pressed a finger onto her chin, his eyes crinkling as they stared into her own. Slowly, he moved his hand to where it hovered over her lips, and he felt her breath brush over his fingers. His eyes softened a bit as her blush became hotter. "And…"

Suddenly he moved his hand to where his finger poked into her side. "…Here!" He began to tickle Anna as the princess gasped, and then burst into giggles that increased to shrieking laughter. "S-stop!" She gasped as his fingers curled over her sides, and she tried futilely to push Kristoff away, knocking over the bucket in the process.

That was enough to make Kristoff stop as they both stared at the limey water pooling over the floor. "Oh, no," Anna sighed as she pushed herself up and began to look for rags to soak up the mess, "and we were almost finished too."

Kristoff shrugged. "It's not that bad." He followed her out of the room in search for something to clean the floor. Neither of them saw Elsa and Jack hiding behind the door as the pair headed down the hallway, close enough to brush shoulders.

Jack looked at Elsa with mirth sparkling in his eyes as they stepped out of the door's shadow. "It's insane how adorable they are with each other," He chirped at the queen as she smiled back in agreement. Then Elsa furrowed a brow as she looked Jack over, stepping back a bit.

Jack felt his face grow hot under her gaze. "Um…like what you see?"

Elsa chuckled a bit as she reached a hand out to brush over Jack's cloak; it was torn to pieces from the battle he had with Pitch over a week ago. "You need a new cloak." The spirit scoffed a bit as he looked down at himself, finally noticing just how ragged it really was.

"No way, I…well, you're right."

Walking smoothly past Jack, Elsa tossed over her shoulder, "Follow me. I have some clothes that may fit you." Jack shook his head but couldn't stop a smiling from creasing his cheeks as he strolled after the icy queen. Even if only four people were able to see him, he still needed to look presentable for them.

He followed her into a large bedroom that he'd only seen a few times before, long ago. "This is your parent's bedroom," Jack noted with no small amount of surprise in his voice. "Yes," came Elsa's reply as she opened a large mahogany wardrobe across from the bed. Jack felt his eyebrows raise as he watched her shift through the fine furs and silks, crimson cloth pressed against navy and emerald.

Then Elsa stopped with a small, "Ah ha," as she pulled out a sapphire cloak that shimmered softly in the window's afternoon light. It was beautiful in a subtle way with small threads of silver forming a delicate pattern around the cloak's collar, traveling down the sides. A small, silvery moon-shaped brooch clasped the collar together. The queen stared down at it in a pondering way.

"My father wore this only a few times," Elsa stated, more to herself than Jack as her pale fingers brushed over the silky fabric. "He said it reminded him of me. He didn't know why." She turned to look at Jack as her hand tightened around the silk almost unnoticeably. "It just did."

She walked over to Jack and held it out to him, but Jack shook his head. "Elsa," he began softly, "I can't wear this- it belonged to your father."

"Which is why I want you to have it," Elsa replied firmly as she almost shoved the cloak into his arms. "It would look much better on you than hanging forever in my parent's wardrobe. It may be a tad large on you though; try it on."

For some reason Jack felt his throat tighten at the look in Elsa's eyes as he placed the cloak almost delicately on the bed before pulling off his own ragged one. The shirt he wore underneath was caught by unsuspecting fingers and he dragged it up as well. He heard Elsa gasp quietly as she caught a glimpse of his taught stomach, and he saw her turn away with burning cheeks as his old cloak was flung unceremoniously beside the king's cloak.

He felt a smirk tug at the corners of his mouth at seeing her become so distraught over seeing so little of him. "My apologies, your highness," Jack said rather teasingly, "I didn't suspect such distress over my undressing." Elsa shook her head a bit and turned to look at him, pink still coloring her face. "It's just that I've only ever seen shirtless men working at the docks as a child," she admitted rather slowly. "Back then I thought nothing of it."

A wicked little idea formed in Jack's mind, and without another thought he put his hands on the back of the collar of his shirt, pulling it over his head until he held it limply in his hand. Elsa's face turned a brilliant cherry hue at seeing Jack's bare torso, lean and hard and pale like snow; she turned away from Jack and said in a voice that barely shook, "At least allow me to leave the room before you undress."

The spirit bit the inside of his lip as he watched Elsa absently reach up to twirl a lock of hair in her finger, her gaze fixed on the floor. "Does it bother you?" He questioned her quietly, and he watched her shake her head a bit too fast. "No, it doesn't," she said, and finally turned back to look at him with glassy eyes, "I'm not bothered by it at all."

"Then why turn away from me?"

Elsa noticeably tensed before replying, "I...it's because of how much I want to keep looking at you, like this." There, she finally said it. The words hovered in the air between them now, colored with the tension that also tainted Elsa's cheeks.

Jack felt his legs move him towards the queen, standing with her hands wound tightly behind her back. He stood close enough to see the faint freckles that dotted over her nose and cheeks, made more evident by her blushing. And as her eyes stared back into his, he saw a spark glimmering in them that made something burn in his stomach, and tighten his chest.

He took her hand from behind her back, gently unwinding the queen's fingers before bringing it up to press against his lips, soft as a monarch's wings. A small sound left Elsa's mouth as she watched Jack bring the hand down slowly to place it on his chest. Her fingers were cold against his heartbeat, but warmth was all Jack could feel.

"Jack," Elsa whispered faintly, her breath brushing his lips. He brought his lips slowly towards hers, closer and closer until-

"Woah-ho-ho! What is _this?"_

Both Jack and Elsa shot themselves away from each other in a breath's worth of a second, as Jack felt his heart pound furiously in his throat. Both of them whipped their heads towards the door where Kristoff leaned against the frame, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Kristoff!" Anna's voice reached their ears like a furious bite as she marched up behind the blonde with crossed arms. "Why couldn't you have left them alone?!"

"It's hard to leave them alone when they left the door wide open for everyone to see them," Kristoff shot back smoothly as he pushed himself from the doorframe and raised a brow at Jack. "Is there a reason for your lack of a shirt? Nope, no, don't tell me. It's pretty obvious by the looks on your faces."

A frustrated sigh from Anna as she began to shove Kristoff away from the door. "Let's get back to spring cleaning!" She snapped while pushing Kristoff down the hallway, his laughter reaching their ears and singing faintly in the air long after he and Anna were gone.

Jack finally looked over at Elsa, who stood still and hard like glass. And when she finally turned to look back at him, her eyes flashed before she marched past him to grab the sapphire cloak from the bed, shoving it into his arms.

"Just…just put the damned thing on already!" She snapped before turning to walk out of the room, her heels clicking the floor sharply. Jack stood there for almost a minute, absently holding the cloak in his arms. He could still taste her breath on his lips, cold like the night air.

Once again, he felt the smallest tug of a smile in the corners of his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seeing all these Jelsa pins on Pinterest isn't helping my rekindling obsession at all btw


	7. Darkness Consume

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She made him feel alive.
> 
> For the first time in an eternity, she made life tangible to him, she made it worth living.
> 
> And now she was going to be taken from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh would you look at that, time for another angst chapter!!

During hours of the night, Jack liked to take strolls under the glow of the moon. When the light of the sun ceased to shine through the windows of the castle and disappeared over the horizon as an orange gleam, the people of Arendelle began to settle in for the night; as did Elsa, Anna and Kristoff.

But not Jack; spirits weren't meant to sleep.

Elsa looked up from where she was pulling over the covers on her bed to see Jack pushing open the window to her room as he casted a long, moonlit shadow on the floor. "I'll take it you're going out for a bit?" She asked with an amused glimmer in her eye, watching the spirit hop onto the ledge before turning to grin at her.

"As per usual…unless you wish for me to stay with you."

The queen swallowed something small and turned her gaze back to her sheets. The candlelight in the room cast flickering light over her features, darkening her eyes. "It would be boring to watch me sleep. Go out and do something interesting."

The spirit raised a brief brow at her statement, giving her a crooked smile as he replied, "If you ever want to come out with me one night, there's another place I want to take you."

A small pause before Elsa said softly, "I think I know what that place is." Jack turned from his owl-hunch on the window sill, putting his feet back onto the floor as he looked at her questioningly. "That so?"

"Yes," Elsa replied, dropping her fluffed pillow on the bed as her eyes met his sapphire gaze from across the room. "I know because…" Jack found that his feet had been moving him towards Elsa while she spoke in that smooth lilt of hers, and when he stood before her she knit her eyebrows together softly as she looked at him.

"Because I can see that place whenever I look in your eyes."

Elsa dropped her gaze to the floor suddenly and chuckled, more to herself than to him. "That sounded dumb, didn't it?" She wrapped her arms around herself in an unsure manner, and Jack felt something pull inside of his chest hard enough to sting.

"No, it didn't," He said to her in hushed words, tilting her chin up with cold fingers as she met his gaze with sparking eyes.

"Tell me what you see then, when you look in them," he said as he watched the shadows dance over her face. Elsa swallowed something bigger this time as she replied quietly, "Aurora Borealis. I've only ever seen it in paintings."

He released her chin to place his hand on her shoulder. Slowly, the smile spread across his elf-like features as he said, "Trust me Elsa, paintings will never do it justice. Come see the lights with me."

She bit her lip, a tiny gesture that might've been missed if he hadn't been so close. "I would love to, Jack," her voice came out small and tight as she turned away from his hand, "but there's something I haven't told you."

Jack watched the queen turn her back to him, slender shoulders tense with something that made a slow uneasiness rise in the spirit. Her words reached his ears in a voice so soft that it threatened to be swallowed by the silence around them.

"The reason we've cleaned this castle hadn't been just for the spring. It was also for…something else."

The burning inside of Jack made his throat constrict, tight enough to nearly choke him. He knew what she was going to say, but he silently prayed to the Moon that it wasn't so, that it was only a bad dream.

"Before my parents were caught by the sea," Elsa began again slowly, "They arranged for something to be held exactly two weeks after my coronation. Arendelle has been in dire need of new allies, and to gain new allies it needs to make new ties with other countries."

New ties with other countries…that could only mean one thing.

"Elsa, you're not saying that-"

She turned back to look at him, candlelight flashing over her features as she curtly interrupted with, "I am. There will be a ceremony less than a week from now, and there will be suitors from at least five different kingdoms coming. And all of them will want one thing."

Jack wasn't sure if he was standing on solid ground anymore; the floor was slowly tilting underneath him and making a queasy feeling swell in his stomach. It only made sense for Elsa to find a suitor, to marry for the sake of alliance. In the line of royalty, love was never a priority.

But even so, the small, furious thumping against insides made him clutch at his arms uneasily. He felt sick as the shadows flickering across Elsa's face seemed to whisper to him in evil little voices, mocking him for his foolishness.

"Jack," Elsa's voice reached him from a muffled, faraway place, "you're white as paper." He felt like paper too, bleached and thin, ready to fall over from the smallest breeze.

"I…I have to leave somewhere," He said suddenly, and before her words could pull themselves from the abyss that began to form around him he turned and leaped out the open window.

The cool night air brushed his face in that familiar caress as he leaped from one rooftop to the next. The feeling ripping apart his insides was weighing him down like a boulder; he felt too heavy to fly. All he could do was jump, and jump he did, running over tops of houses with blind eyes and feet. Everything whipped by him in an unsteady blur.

His foot caught over the edge of a chimney, sending him to tumble and smash against the ground. There was a ringing in his ears, dissolving into a low rumble that felt as if the earth were splitting apart underneath his hand. He dug his palm into the ground, futilely tried to steady the world around him.

The spirit knew that if he went back, she would be waiting at the window. Her hands would be clutched together as she told him in frantic words that it was only for politics, and that it had never been her choice. But the look in her eyes when she turned in the dim light brought a sudden, horrible realization upon him.

People married to have somebody with them for the rest of their life. And Elsa had the rest of her life to live, to live with someone who could grow old with her.

Jack couldn't grow old with her. Two hundred years had never put lines on his face, because he was trapped in eternity. She was mortal, a solid girl with a solid life; he was only an idea that faded because nobody believed in the winter. She'd been the first to believe in him, believe in winter.

The string between them that came into existence at the sound of her voice was slowly being loosened. It was falling apart, pulling them away from each other.

He was stupid, stupid to think that she and he…that they…

…had any future together.

"Why," He rasped out at the moon hanging over him, a bright circle of white in the blackness, "did you let me hear her? Why did you let her fill the hole in my life, if you knew that it wasn't going to be like that forever?"

Alone. He'd been alone for so many years, a hollow existence that bleached the reality before his eyes. Colors were dull until her eyes painted everything bright again, sounds muffled until her voice made them clear and strong. Everything he touched with numb fingers, until her skin made his fingers spark with nerves that made him shiver all over. When he held her and smelled her vanilla softness, he felt dizzy by how _strong_ it smelled to him; he could *still* smell her.

And when he tasted her breath on his lips, it tasted sharp, it tasted real…

She made him feel _alive_.

For the first time in an eternity, she made life tangible to him, she made it worth _living_.

And now she was going to be taken from him.

His fingers clutched at the fine, silky fabric of the cloak; he remembered how it felt heavier than his old cloak when he put it around his shoulders, how solid it felt. It fit him much better than he thought it would.

" _My father wore this only a few times," Elsa stated, more to herself than Jack as her pale fingers brushed over the silky fabric. "He said it reminded him of me. He didn't know why." She turned to look at Jack as her hand tightened around the silk almost unnoticeably. "It just did."_

 _I know why_ , the thought echoed in Jack's mind, _it's because you and I are both children of the moon_.

He pulled the cloak off with shaking hands, and stared at it. The silver gleam of the pendant in the moonlight burned his eyes, and he threw the cloak away from him to land on the ground with a muffled thud.

Jack grabbed at his face, whispered empty things to himself as the dull, aching noise pounded against his entire being. When she's gone, when her light finally extinguishes from this earth, he knows that there will be nobody like her, ever again.

And the emptiness will seep back into his life.

* * *

Standing at the window gaping before her and feeling the night breeze tickle her face, Elsa's hands balled into two tight little fists. Jack seemed so stricken by the news. She didn't expect him to take it lightly, but the way his face paled as his eyes clouded with something thick and heavy told her that it was more than that.

When she first heard the spirit's words reach her in the immense stillness of the palace, his voice rang in her ears with its smooth rumble. When she felt Jack's hand touch her shoulder, firm and solid, it ignited something inside her chest, a slow burning that seeped its way into her entire being.

He made her feel warm.

Everything about Jack had been so astounding to Elsa, watching him walk and smile and laugh like he'd finally tasted the sweetness of life. When he held her close to him, his cold breath kissing her face soft like snowflakes, his eyes looked into hers in a way that made her heart beat that much quicker and her breath come out in small gusts.

He looked at her in a way that she knew nobody else ever would.

Elsa bit her lip and felt her eyes become wet, cold like arctic water. She wanted to cry, but from what she didn't know, and that's why she felt afraid. She didn't know if he was going to come back.

"Please," she whispered out the window into the dark, "I don't want you to leave me."

Nothing but the hum of nocturnal life answered her plea. She waited by the window as seconds stretched into minutes, minutes into hours. Elsa wondered then, if she should go out searching for him; but she knew of Jack's ability to travel great distances in small periods of time. He could be halfway across the world and she'd be none the wiser.

The queen knew, then, that if she was going to accomplish anything tomorrow she needed to sleep. She left the window open as she crawled into her bed, with the dim hope that he'd come back before the sun rose to wake her and tell her why he seemed so afraid.

Even though Elsa didn't need covers, she pulled them up to her chin and held them close. She felt too open in the dark without blankets to cover her. When she closed her eyes she saw Jack behind them, Jack turning to her with a wily grin as he tossed a snowball into the air; Jack popping his head out of the snow mound and shaking his head at her; Jack with his arms wrapped around her waist as he ran over the wind through the sky; Jack grabbing her shoulders and telling her to go find Anna before it was too late.

Jack bringing her hand to his lips and then placing it on his bare chest. Jack's eyes gazing into hers as their noses brushed, breathing cold against her lips. Jack's sapphire eyes shining like stars filled with so many things that she wanted to know.

The memories faded to black as sleep somehow managed to hush her overdriven mind.

In her dream there was a room, large and empty enough to echo. She couldn't see anything before her or behind her, but somehow she knew she was in a room.

And there was someone else in the room with her.

"Did you miss me, darling?" The voice hissed in her ear from behind her, or was it beside her? It was smooth and oily like black water, and she felt something curl in her gut.

"What do you want?" She hissed into the dark, afraid to move lest he find out where she was. The blackness was almost overwhelming and she wondered what dark corner of her mind she was in. There were too many shadows in her thoughts to count.

The voice chuckled, a deep growl that made the ground shiver. "I thought my intentions were obvious. Sorry for taking so long to come back, I've had a few…nuisances to deal with. But now we have time to ourselves, time to get to know one another."

Elsa felt her jaw tighten as she stared into the blackness ahead of her. "I know enough about you already, and I don't want anything to do with you. Get out of my head."

"Why would I want to do that?" Pitch replied in a tone that made needles prick into Elsa's spine. "I like your mind, Elsa. It's nice and full of dark things, perfect for a creature like me. It is for you too."

"No," the word left her lips suddenly and was swallowed in the dark, "It's not. That darkness you love so much is not who I am."

Then, softly she asked, "Why do you want me?"

The stillness around her seemed to radiate with barely concealed annoyance. "Take a few guesses," Pitch's voice boomed in the dark, "I'm sure you're smart enough to figure it out in due time."

Elsa hated the feeling of being trapped in her own mind. She didn't want to talk to Pitch, she just wanted to wake up, wake up and see Jack leaning over her, gently shaking her awake as light spilled through her window.

"He's not coming back, you know," Pitch said smooth and low, and the words pierced Elsa's chest like broken glass.

"How would you know that?" She bit into the dark as her voice echoed in its vastness.

Pitch replied calmly, "I know that he stayed around you for your entire life only to flee once you told him of your plan. He left because he knew he couldn't have you, and that's just too much for poor little Jack Frost to bear. Don't you see, Elsa? He loves you like a dragon loves his gold- selfishly and possessively."

Her jaw tightened hard enough to ache. _Shut up,_ she wanted to scream at the blackness, _shut up shut up shut up!_ But she knew that would only delight Pitch to see her break down in his grasp, so she maintained her posture with no small effort.

"I know you're lying," She shot back calmly, "you're only trying to make me doubt myself. But I know Jack doesn't love me like that- he cares for me in a way your demented little mind could never comprehend."

She could practically hear the arched brow in Pitch's voice. "Then where is he, hmm? Out chasing the night while you're stuck here with me? I may not know too much about how 'caring' works, but I know that's _not_ how it works."

The knot in her stomach tightened at the truth in his words. Why would Jack leave her by herself if he cared for her? _Even in my loneliest time, he was there for me. He was only gone those years because he wanted to protect me._

But was that really true? All around her the black abyss seemed to shift and moan with her uneasiness, as she looked down at her hands and gasped. Her hands were little, like a child's, and suddenly she felt much smaller.

She was scared of something, and the darkness around her seemed to grow stronger because of that. Again, she felt needles prickle down her spine as she felt Pitch dissolve from the black to stand behind her.

Pitch's voice was no longer loud and booming. It was soft and full of…something. "He may have left you forever, Elsa," His words rang sweetly in the dark, "but I'm here for you. And I'll stay with you."

Lonely. She'd been so lonely for so long, she thought nobody understood her, not even Anna. When Jack showed himself into her life she thought she'd found somebody who understood the cold.

But he didn't understand her at all. He didn't even care for her.

When Elsa spoke again, she was surprised by how small her voice sounded, how weak it was. "You said you won't leave me?"

Pitch leaned down and placed a hand on her shoulder, smooth and heavy…and cold. Elsa always liked the cold. She found it comforting.

"Never, love," He whispered into her ear, "you and I are more alike than you could ever imagine. For what goes together better than cold and dark?"

The blackness shifted and pulsed as if it were trying to tell Elsa something. She'd always tried to shut the darkness away into the back of her mind, if only to make room for the light in her life. But there was no light- light was just a trick of the mind. She was going to listen to the dark for once and hear what it had to say.

Elsa finally replied to Pitch, and when she did her voice felt like it was coming from somewhere else.

"Nothing."

* * *

There was something that darkened the air around him; Jack could feel it. He pulled himself up on weak legs and looked out into the night, past the dark buildings and sleeping life. It was coming from the castle.

He began to run towards it, then paused to look back at the cloak lying sullenly on the ground like a dark puddle. He walked towards it, stooping to look down at the moon pendant gleaming up towards him.

" _It would look much better on you than hanging forever in my parent's wardrobe."_

He couldn't abandon the Man on the Moon. He made him who he was.

And he was Elsa's guardian.

He picked up the cloak and pulled it around his shoulders, and the weight of it made him feel lighter somehow. He was going back to Elsa, and he wasn't going to leave her side again, he was sure of it.

He leaped over the roofs, sailing past windows with sleeping children as his feet bounced over the wind. Elsa may be mortal, she may find someone else that she loved more, but if that's the way it was then so be it. He only wanted for her to be happy.

But the darkness that stung the air like needles grew stronger as Jack approached the castle and landed on the roof. He felt something inside of him grow unsure as landed on the sill of Elsa's open window and peered into the room. Elsa wasn't in her bed.

But he felt her spirit somewhere else in the castle, radiating with a sort of power that made his insides burn. It was strong, but for the wrong reason. It felt…treacherous.

 _No,_ the word pounded in his head, _no no no._ This power could only come from one other being.

He ran past the open door and down the hallway, his blood pounding in his ears. And then he saw a figure standing silently in the dark, in front of Anna's door. He kept running towards her, watched her reach towards the doorknob with a hand tinged with ice. Her skin almost looked black.

"Elsa, please," He called towards her, "don't listen to him." But his words reached deaf ears as the queen opened the door quietly before turning to look back at him. Her eyes gleamed a silvery-yellow that made his stomach churn.

And then her eyes left his as she began to walk into the room, towards the figure sleeping soundly on the bed.

Jack made one long, clean jump that sailed him in the air past notElsa. He landed and stood between her and Anna now, arms stretched out before him as his eyes gleamed. "You won't hurt her," He whispered to notElsa, "I know you won't."

The queen narrowed her silvery-gold eyes at him, and all around them the ebony air began to shift, swirling itself into one tall, black pillar that stood beside notElsa. Pitch looked at Jack with curled lips.

"She's too far gone from the light to hear your voice, Jack," The dark spirit sneer at him with his words dripping poison. "You made her into this, you know. She thought you left her."

"But I didn't leave her," Jack's voice bounced against the wall and came back to him in a calm whisper. "I'm here right now, aren't I?"

Pitch's fangs gleamed at him in the dark. "She doesn't know that. For years, she'd been trying to smother the dark inside of her. I managed to coax it out; I'll admit though, she was much harder to reach than that foolish prince. Her spirit had a lot of light in it."

_Elsa, please. You can't let him control you like this. You can't let fear be your worst enemy._

Elsa was wrong when she said she couldn't hurt him; she already had, in more ways than one.

"How _dare_ you do this to her," Jack said to the dark lord in a seething growl. His knuckles whitened as he gripped his staff, planting his feet firmly in front of the bed; he'll be damned if he let the same happen to Anna.

Pitch gave a petulant snort as notElsa remained deathly silent beside him, her eyes a dull, golden glint. "I suggest you move aside before I have Elsa do it for you." When the dark spirit said this, Jack heard the crackling gleam of notElsa's hand swirling an ice sword into existence. She gripped the glimmering sword firmly as her dead gaze remained fixed on the spirit.

Jack took a deep breath as he stared into those dead eyes. He could see her spirit struggling behind them, wrapped in Pitch's chains of fear. She didn't want to do this.

"I'm not moving," Jack said in a firm hush, and Pitch's vicious smile somehow widened into a nightmarish row of gleaming spikes for teeth.

"So be it."

He saw notElsa raise the ice sword in the dark, felt the turmoil rage inside of her as he brought his staff up to deflect it.

Then a whizzing crack of a noise rang in his ears as he saw notElsa's sword fly out of her hand and clank onto the floor. An object shot into the dark, then back again towards the window as Jack watched Pitch's eyes widen before narrowing into angry amber slits.

"Sorry, mate," Jack heard a low rumble of a voice come from behind him, a thick accent that was unmistakably Australian. "Can't let you take any more souls tonight. 'S already one too many."

_The birth of spring…_

"Lay off Rabbit," Pitch spat as Jack turned behind him to see gray fur shining in the silver glow of the moon, "this is none of your concern."

Could it really be him…?

The dark figure of Bunnymund hopped off the window and gripped the boomerang in his paw, sizing Pitch up and down with glinting green eyes.

"It is our concern when you've been terrorizing others," Jack heard another voice from behind Bunnymund, a normally sweet, giggling lilt that was hardened with anger. Rainbow feathers caught the moonlight as another figure drew herself up beside Bunnymund with arms crossed.

_The keeper of memories…_

"Not you too," Jack heard Pitch sigh, but the dark spirit's voice was tinged with something anxious. The Tooth Fairy hovered beside the rabbit like a hummingbird, drawing closer to Anna as she glared at Pitch.

"We figured you would go back to your lair to lick wounds," Another thick accent that spoke of cold places, and Jack was sure that he must be dreaming at this point as a large bulk of a man climbed through the window, his boots shaking the floor as he landed on it. "We did not figure you would come back so soon."

_The giver of gifts…_

Twin swords gleamed in North's large fists as he stood beside the other two guardians.

By now, Pitch had become noticeably tense as he sized up the threat before him. Elsa remained frozen by his side as her spirit ebbed and throbbed. _Keep fighting._

"Let me guess," Pitch hissed through clenched teeth, "my old friend from the dark ages has tagged along as well."

"Your guess would be right," North replied with a jolly grin, and then there were flashes of golden sand rolling through the window bright as the sun.

_The weaver of dreams…_

The golden sand pooled onto the floor silently before swirling into a man that glowed in the dark room like a torch. Sandy didn't speak, but his eyes told Jack everything as they narrowed at Pitch.

Then, it was as if Bunnymund had noticed the winter spirit for the first time as green orbs fixed themselves on him.

"Frosty," the large rabbit rumbled as his furry fingers deftly twirled the boomerang in his hand. "Long time no see." Jack opened his mouth, but the only thing that came out of it was a small noise.

"Witty as ever, too," Bunnymund chided.

There they all stood beside one another in the large room, the four Guardians looming over Anna in her bed, who had now begun to shift around and mutter at the noise.

"Sandy, could you take her somewhere safe?" Tooth chirped as she began to crack delicate knuckles. "This might get ugly."


	8. Invincible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What about her eyes?" Kristoff finally said back to her after she paused for several moments, and he find that his own voice was too shy to go above a murmur as well. She turned back to him with eyes full of something too heavy for a bright girl like Anna to bear.
> 
> "…Her eyes were like Hans' eyes when he tried to kill me and Olaf that one night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, didn't mean to take so long to push this chapter out!! Hope you enjoy :D

Fate was a cruel, beautiful thing.

It could build a palace for one, and destroy whatever rubble another may have. It could weave the threads of two souls together and tear them apart at a moment's breath. It was arbitrary in its selection, unfeeling in its punishment, and most of all, it was merciless.

Mercy certainly wasn't a feeling that warmed Elsa's heart that night as Jack found himself cracking through the barricade of ice that she had swept over the fjord water, furious bits of energy slamming against the cold sheen of the surface with a dull, heavy noise. It was curious how solid he had become since Elsa had believed in him; before, he'd been able to walk through walls, but now breaking through ice proved to be a challenge.

The winter spirit was trapped under the icy shell of the frozen water as he leveled his staff once more, focusing all of his energy into it, trying to think of bright, hot things to melt the ice. The zip of blue sparks was slow in the thick watery atmosphere, but managed to burn a hole big enough for him to break through, just as notElsa's attention was drawn towards Bunnymund.

"Oye, your majesty! Over here!"

Bunnymund launched his boomerang at the queen who swiftly blocked it with a wall of ice, and with a firm push she sent the wall hurtling towards the large rabbit. Bunnymund launched himself into the air just as the ice slammed into the rock of the mountainside, shattering into countless glassy bits. Bunnymund's boomerang had bounced off the ice with a crack, skidding across the frozen water towards Jack.

With quick feet, Jack grabbed the boomerang and launched it back to the large rabbit, who caught it in his furry paw just as notElsa made a large swoop of her hand that sent jagged icicles whizzing towards him. Bunnymund's eyes widened just as he threw himself to the ground and let the icicles soar over his head.

"Gotta hand it to you Frosty, you sure know how to pick your girlfriends!" Bunnymund yelled over the fjord towards Jack, whose focus was pulled towards a rather nasty stampede of dark stallions galloping over the water towards him, the air thick with vengeful whinnies.

Above the three of them reigned a massive storm of shifting black and gold with occasional explosions of rainbow like lightening in the night sky. The winter spirit idly wondered what Arendelle's citizens saw as they were rudely awakened by the heavy cracks of the Guardians' combat against Pitch and notElsa, forced to huddle in their homes together while the few brave ones left their houses to see that a part of the castle had been reduced to complete rubble, rocks tumbling and cracking against the frozen fjord water.

Many likely feared that Elsa decided to lay a new tempest upon them, and this storm being of a somehow more sinister nature than the last. Whatever they felt, Jack didn't have to the time to ponder. He shot a spark of cold blue force that crashed into the front line of the shadowy horses and busted them into shifting piles of black that struggled to become whole again.

"Behind you, Jack!"

Jack barely had time to move himself as needles of ice sliced past him, one grazing the side of his cheek and threatening to draw blood. notElsa's power was laced with a sort of dark force that turned her ice into shadowy gleams of cold, treacherous energy. While Jack may not have felt threatened by Elsa's own powers, Pitch's influence had warped her frost into something malicious that could very well injure the winter spirit.

Even with all their might and strategy spun together, the other three guardians had their hands full against Pitch and his terrifying shadow legion; more than once Jack had seen Tooth fall from the black-gold storm to slam against the ice before pushing herself up to rejoin the battle as North's sleigh whizzed in and out of the shifting mass, his twin swords glinting like silver as they sliced shadowmeres apart.

A thought flashed through Jack's mind about Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf, along with the servants who lay in the castle prison away from all the noisy chaos. Sandy had used what precious time the others could afford without him to gather all of the castle inhabitants and herd them into the dank staleness of the dungeon.

Anna had been carried- or more or less dragged- by Kristoff into the prison, and he knew now that Anna was trying to break the dungeon door open, needing to see what the ruckus was about; and he could only pray that the dungeon door would not give in.

* * *

"Anna, you have to stop this! The weird glowing man put us down here for a reason!"

Anna turned to Kristoff with sparking eyes as she leveled the broken piece of wood towards the heavy dungeon door and slammed against it once more, but to no avail. One thing she could not fault the castle architects was their choice in prison door quality.

"You don't understand!" She hissed back at him, "Elsa and Jack- they're in trouble out there!"

Kristoff grabbed at the piece of wood and yanked it out of Anna's grasp, holding her with a firm hand as she tried to grab for it. "And how would you be able to help them?!," He snapped at her as she huffed and shoved at him for having too long an arm for her own reach to overcome. "You need to stay down here where they won't need to worry about you getting in the way."

The princess paused and tightened her lips at the tall blonde. All around them in the dark, the servants lay huddled together in fearful whispering as the guards tried to ease their shaken nerves with card games. Olaf was attempting to ease poor little Moira with jokes, but she only responded with wet eyes and clasped arms.

"Kristoff," Anna began, her voice shaking just the tiniest bit, "you didn't see Elsa like I did. Elsa, she- she looked like she'd been possessed by something evil. Her skin was dark, it looked almost black. And her eyes…" Her voice by then had been reduced to a hollow whisper as she turned away from Kristoff and focused her gaze towards the fiery flicker of a lantern used to light the guards' card game.

"What about her eyes?" Kristoff finally said back to her after she paused for several moments, and he find that his own voice was too shy to go above a murmur as well. She turned back to him with eyes full of something too heavy for a bright girl like Anna to bear.

"…Her eyes were like Hans' eyes when he tried to kill me and Olaf that one night." Kristoff's lips parted slightly but no noise left them as he felt Anna gently try to tug away the broken wood that was still in his grasp. "I need to get to her," she murmured through the dark at him, "whatever it is that's making her like this could hurt her."

Kristoff regained himself long enough to pull the wood from Anna's hand and snap it in two jagged pieces over his leg. The princess's high gasp rang in his ears as she nearly yelled at him, "Why did you do that?!"

The blonde tossed the broken bits of wood towards the corner of the dungeon that wasn't inhabited by servants as he growled at her, "whatever's hurting her could hurt you too." Through the dimness he saw Anna's jaw clench tightly as she hissed at him, "Damn you, Kristoff! I need to get to her!"

"No," Kristoff replied to the redhead firmly as he felt something swell inside of him like a rising storm, "I'm not letting you go out there. You could be killed, Anna."

An exasperated sigh from the princess as she shoved past him to look for another piece of wood. "She saved me once, the least I could do for my sister is repay the favor," Anna shot over her shoulder. Kristoff landed a heavy hand on Anna that kept her from moving. "You've already saved her though," He replied in a tight voice as she looked at him with flashing eyes and a tight jaw.

Kristoff felt his throat become heavy with something he'd never felt before, not even when he sat in that tight prison cell for over half a day as the guards idly sneered at him about picking at ice for a living. It was a feeling that frightened him, for he only half-knew what it was.

Anna struggled to move away from his hand, only prompting him to tighten his hold on her shoulder. "Let go of me," she hissed, "before I have you stay in this prison for daring to touch a royal." Kristoff was stunned at the bite of her words, as she'd never seemed to mind his touches before. His throat tightened even further.

One of the guards saw Kristoff grab Anna, and had had enough of their tiff as he marched up to seize Kristoff by the shoulder and yank him away from Anna. "Keep your dirty hands off of the princess, common boy," he snarled at the blonde, and Kristoff had to resist landing a fist between the guard's eyes.

"No, Bernhard, leave him be," Anna replied with words tired and exasperated as she gently tried to wave the guard away. Bernhard replied almost immediately like he'd been trained to do so, "but your highness, it is my duty to see to your safety at all times. I shall lock him in one of the prisons at once."

"No, you won't," the redhead's voice came out stronger this time as she walked around Kristoff to stand between the blonde and Bernhard. "He won't touch me anymore. Will you, Kristoff?" Her eyes flared as she turned her head towards him. She shooed the guard away more firmly this time as the heavy swelling in Kristoff's chest became almost painful.

"You're not going," he whispered at her, and her saw her dim figure stiffen at his words.

"I _am_ going." She snapped back, and began to walk away from him.

The swelling in Kristoff's chest exploded into a blossoming ache as he grabbed her shoulder to whip her around and yell at her, _"Damn it,_ _you're not leaving me!"_

The murmuring in the prison was silenced almost immediately, like a heavy latch door had slammed over the servants' voices. The guards quickly stood from their card game with the gleam of their swords in the lamp light catching Kristoff's eye.

But then they paused at the look on Anna's face as she stared into Kristoff's own features, taut with an emotion that made her breath catch in her throat.

"Kristoff-"

"Please," Kristoff cut her off in a broken whisper, "Don't leave. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you." His voice became raw, like he'd laid out all of his feelings before her and didn't care anymore. His grip on her shoulders tightened just a bit before he released them, and he turned away from her with cloudy eyes.

A small sob left Anna's throat as she found herself grabbing for him, pulling him back. She buried herself in his strong arms as the blonde held her close and kissed the top of her head, not caring that others could see them. She felt so small and warm in his arms, just like he'd imagined she would.

"I won't leave then," Anna murmured against Kristoff's chest, her face warm and wet, "you're right. I'd only do more harm than good out there." Kristoff took her chin with gentle fingers and tilted it towards his face, shivering as her warm breath kissed his lips.

"I love you, Anna," he said in a soft voice that only she heard. Her eyes sparked into his as she moved forward, her lips meeting his for the first time.

* * *

_Wham._

Jack slammed into the face of the mountain, cracking the rock with the force that notElsa's ice had brought upon him. He felt the whoosh of air leave his lungs in a hollow hiss, and he could see the shadowy queen marching towards him, fists clenched together as they sparked with the evil energy that only a ruler of darkness could grant.

The battle continued to rage above them, and Jack found that the deeper into the night they went the more potent Pitch's powers became. The shadowmeres were harder than ever to defeat, and it took the guardians that much longer to lash out at them.

" _You are all so foolish and weak,"_ Pitch's voice hissed through gleaming teeth and rumbled into the night. _"Daylight will no longer hurt me. I have entrenched fears too deeply into this world, and now the sun shall no longer rise. And you, Jack, have Elsa to thank for this."_ Jack clenched his eyes shut and prayed for the voice to go away.

Jack never tried to hurt her. He only tried to thwart her ice as it sliced through the air towards him, and all throughout the entire battle he could feel something inside of her screaming, a high shriek that nearly deafened the spirit. Her spirit was struggling hard against the force that wrapped over her being like a shadowy prison, trapped in its onyx tendrils.

He'd even been tempted to yell at Bunnymund for throwing his boomerang at her. ' _Can't you feel her strugging?!'_ He wanted to scream at the rabbit, but Bunnymund didn't have the faintest idea of just how scared she truly was.

Elsa's spirit spoke to his in a way that nobody else could hear.

Jack was terrified, terrified of how the fight had been leading him down a narrow path towards the only option he had. He knew he would have to hurt Elsa; sooner or later, that bolt of energy would careen towards her, and sooner or later he would have to make it not miss.

He didn't want to hurt Elsa. Moon, he didn't want to.

But it was the only way he could get close enough to her.

With a hand that trembled, he aimed his staff at the shadow of a queen who bore him ill feelings with her icy hands. The wooden cane wavered in his vision, almost as much as notElsa's figure did; and he realized it was because tears were blurring his eyes.

Bunnymund had been trapped in a wave of shadowmeres and was struggling to release himself from it. Jack wished it was the spring spirit who could do this; but the winter spirit knew that injury by him and him alone would stun notElsa long enough for him to reach her, to reach his hands through the ebony bars that trapped Elsa inside of her own shadows.

"I'm sorry, Elsa, I'm so sorry," Jack nearly sobbed, and found that he did sob as his hand focused just enough energy into the wooden staff to hurt Elsa, to paralyze her for just long enough. Elsa was strong, so he had to channel a lot of his strength into the next strike. He had to do it now, or she would break his focus with her black ice.

Focus. Release. Remember how to breathe.

The zip of blue energy whipped in the air, and the sound of it hitting notElsa's chest deafened Jack's ears. notElsa made the only noise that he ever heard her make- a scream.

notElsa faltered just long enough for the winter spirit to spring himself towards her, and he threw her against the ground, feeling her pain as her back slammed against the ice. His hands clutched her shoulders tightly.

"Elsa," He cried down at her, "Elsa, listen to me. You can break free of him if you would just listen to my voice."

notElsa refused to hear him as she seized Jack's arm in a tight grip, swathing black ice over it. It stung Jack more than he thought it would, and he gritted his teeth against the pain, a growl leaving his throat.

"He took your spirit when you were most vulnerable, he wrapped your mind in fear. You need to let go of that fear." notElsa's eyes gleamed like gold-silver hell into his as the black ice continued to slither itself up his arm and down his chest. It was getting harder to breathe through the agony that Elsa's own hand brought upon him.

Time slowed into a dull murmur as he sought the light in her eyes. The rumble of the battle above hushed into something soft like a melancholy lullaby, and through it all he could feel her spirit spasm once, twice against its confines. Then he found something burning in her gaze.

Jack finally managed to reach her through all of the shadows, and found his fingers clasping at something small and cold. He peered through the darkness to see it was a hand, pale enough to glow softly in the dark like the moon. Elsa's eyes looked up at him, large and wet and frightened. They were blue and bright and wracked in agony, so much agony.

"Jack," she whispered, her voice like a child's, "I'm scared."

Something echoed in the back of Jack's mind, the whisper of something from long ago.

He pulled the little Elsa towards him, bent down to wrap his arms around the tiny figure. He felt her hiccup into his cloak. Then he whispered softly into her ear,

"Let go of your pain. Let me bear it for you."

Elsa lay quietly in the spirit's arms for a moment. Then, suddenly, Jack was blinded. He snapped his eyes shut and held her tightly, held her until he felt her grow in his arms.

Then, he found himself staring down at Elsa's insensible figure in the dark. Her skin was pale, having fought the shadows from it. Jack laid his hand over her chest and felt her heart beating steadily under his palm. Something left Jack's lips that was too soft to be a gasp.

She did it. She managed to free herself from Pitch's nightmare.

Above him he heard Pitch's roar as the sky shook with the dark king's anger.

" _YOU FREED HER?! HOW?!_ _ **HOW?!"**_ The shock in the dark spirit's voice was a sound that Jack had never heard before, and it made him feel strong.

The winter spirit gritted his teeth as he felt his voice boom in the dark towards the sky.

"I gave her something you could have never given her."

Then, he felt something cold wrap itself over his fingers. It was Elsa's hand. He looked down and saw her eyes staring up at him, _her_ eyes, bright and blue like clear pools of water. They crinkled up at him.

"Thank you."

Jack didn't need to help her to her feet as she stood up, and they both looked up towards the sky to see that the gold had managed to overpower the black, slowly but surely. More rainbow lightening that cracked in the night as the dark stallions around them began to whinny and run into each other in their confusion. Their master was losing.

A low rumble that climbed into a high scream shook the earth, as the shadows throbbed and beat against the shimmering gold that threatened to consume them.

Then, a dark figure flew from the sky and slammed into the ice, cracking it from the force. Elsa and Jack began to walk towards it, knowing full well who it was.

Pitch pulled himself to his feet as they approached, a low snarl that bit their ears as he glowered at the pair.

"Nobody, I repeat, _nobody,_ has ever freed themselves from my fear." His voice, however seething it was, no longer rumbled like thunder. All around them, the stallions began to close in slowly as their eyes gleamed golden at the dark spirit.

"Oh, Pitch," Jack heard Elsa say beside him, her voice clear and strong. "You don't seem to get what you're made of. Everybody will feel fear from time to time. The trick of it is to not make fear your enemy."

Pitch's lip curled at the queen, but Jack noticed how he took the smallest of steps away from them as Elsa stepped forward. "Taking lectures from a bratty little girl," Pitch snarled, "what has the world come to?" The sound of a thousand hooves slamming against the ice as the shadowy horses drew closer to Pitch. The three Guardians descended from the sky to stand beside Bunnymund, watching the scene before them with arms crossed.

"I'm not a little girl anymore," Elsa shot back at him, and she took another step forward that elicited two more steps back from Pitch. Her eyes narrowed as she felt something thickening in the air between them. "And I'm not afraid of you."

Pitch's grimace turned into a wide smirk. "Then whose fear are they smelling?" He nodded his head towards the army of shadowmeres that stood around the three of them like a thick circle of black. The gleam of something caught Jack's eyes as it drew itself over the mountain peak, bright against the pinkening sky.

"Not mine," Jack heard North's voice boom from the distance. "Or mine either," came the reply from Tooth and Bunnymund at the same time as Sandy nodded his own answer.

Jack and Elsa looked at each other with sparkling eyes before they both turned at Pitch with menacing smiles that made Pitch's shoulders tighten a bit. Jack stepped forward, sapphire eyes narrowing as he smoothly rumbled, "It's not any of us. _It must be yours that they sense_."

Then he saw Pitch's eyes widen with fear.

As if on cue, the legion of shadowy horses surged forward towards the dark figure, who gasped shrilly as he turned to stumble over the ice. The grace of his shadows seemed to have evaporated from his body the moment he felt something cold clutching at his insides, and the shadowmeres wrapped around him in a tornado-like whirl.

" **No!"** Pitch screamed through the shifting black, and the shadows whirled faster, dragging him over the ice as his fingernails scraped for leverage that would never be found. He shrieked, he struggled and grabbed, but to no avail.

The whirling mass of black drew thinner, thinner still before it dissolved into nothing just as the morning light touched it. Pitch, son of the moon and the dark goddess Eris, had been swallowed by his own terror.

There was a silence in the air that seemed almost to pay mourning to the soul that had been sucked back into the dark corners of the world, to stay for a time measureless.

Then, Elsa's voice breaking the morning air as she turned to Jack with a soft smile. "Right now," she said to him, "I have no pain for you to bear."


	9. Count the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'll give you a hint- she has cold hands and a warm heart." Elsa's cheek turned pink against his own, and much to the spirit's pleasant surprise she reached her own hands up to place against his back, pulling him closer until he felt the soft beating of her heart against his.
> 
> Her own lips tickled his ear as she whispered back, "My only regret in seeing you is that I haven't seen you sooner, Jack Frost."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you guys ready for all this fluff????

"Pity," Anna sighed as she stood next to her sister, Jack, Kristoff, and more than half of Arendelle's citizens while they observed the heavy damage wrought on the castle. "We had just finished cleaning it too."

When Pitch's shadows had dissolved from the sky as morning shined pink over Arendelle, Jack and Elsa walked together to open the door of the dungeon and free the castle inhabitants from its damp darkness. Anna nearly leaped to grab Elsa in her arms as the queen laughed and smoothed a cold hand over the redhead's back.

"You're okay, you're okay," Anna sobbed with happiness into her sister's neck, "I was so afraid that whatever had taken hold of you would do much worse." Elsa held her sister close and said smiling into her ear, "I was afraid it would as well. But," And with sparkling eyes she looked past Anna's shoulder towards Jack, "I have a certain spirit of winter to thank for releasing me from that black prison."

Jack smiled a bit and scratched the back of his head as the castle residents bustled around him in the bright morning air. "You freed yourself with your own strength, Elsa."

The sparkle in Elsa's eyes flickered a bit as they looked into his, and her smile became softer still. "You helped me find my strength."

The reconstruction of the destroyed part of the castle would take no less than a month to repair. Carpenters from countries all around came to partake in the restoration, and old castle blueprints were found in the corner of the steward's study, having grown dust from its stale position.

"Your highness, it looks as if we may have to stall the ceremony for at least a month," one of the architects said to Elsa as they mulled over the blueprints in the untouched part of the castle. "Do take your time, please," She replied brightly to the architect, "I wouldn't care for a rushed job. I'm sure the ceremony guests wouldn't mind waiting until then - I'll have letters sent right away."

The Guardians couldn't stay to witness the rebuilding, as expected. They had their own matters to attend to, although a few farewells were steeped in apologies concerning the heavy damage inflicted.

"I'm so sorry, queen Elsa," Tooth said with knitted brows as her warm hands clasped over Elsa's cool ones, "Your beautiful home is ruined. I didn't expect it to get so out of hand."The queen blinked for a few times, still not quite able to believe that she was actually talking to the woman who took teeth from underneath her pillow when she was a child; but then she smiled brightly and replied, "There's no need to apologize- everyone's safe now, thanks to you and the others. The damage was inevitable anyway."

"Yeah, but prob'ly not to this extent," Bunnymund rumbled as sparking green eyes roamed over the rubble strewn about. "North seemed a bit too eager to bust that wall down when he was duking it out with a dark horse." His furry foot nudged a brick off of a small patch of wilting flowers before he turned to look at North with a raised brow.

The large man grinned widely albeit a bit sheepishly as he crossed his arms. "That wall happened to be in way when I was fighting. I'll give extra presents this year as…a small way to compensate."

Sandy stood floating next Jack as the winter spirit looked into the deep teal waters of the fjord. Elsa managed to melt the black ice she'd created, dissolving the shadows until the water was cool and green once more. The salty breath of the sea brushed their faces and Jack turned to grin at Sandy.

"Amazing what she can do, huh? Wish you could have met her under better circumstances."

Sandy shrugged his shoulders and smiled at Jack. A little golden snowflake swirled over his head before shifting into a floating heart as Sandy's grin turned wily. Jack's cheeks burned a soft pink as he rubbed the back of his neck and mumbled a bit, "I do love her, but…I'm not sure if we'll ever quite be what you think we are."

The winter spirit continued staring into the softly rolling fjord water shifting blue and green as the little golden man beside him hovered closer and patted his shoulder soothingly. Jack turned to look at Sandy, who gave him a thumbs-up like he wished Jack all the happiness in the world regardless; the dream spirit always knew what to say without any words leaving his lips, and Jack felt happiness brimming within him as he returned the gesture.

When the two had walked back to where Elsa stood with the rest of the Guardians, he saw Anna laughing and waving her hands around as she talked to Tooth hovering like a rainbow bird, who seemed all too eager to listen to the princess. Kristoff stood beside Anna looking at the guardians as if he'd spent too many nights without sleep, and couldn't trust his eyes.

"It's about time you came back," Bunnymund huffed at Jack and Sandy as the winter spirit planted his feet beside Elsa, "much as I'd love to stick around, us Guardians need to get back to watching over the ankle-biters of the world."

North clapped an arm around the tense Kristoff's shoulders and grinned at the blonde. "I remember you well. You are the boy who loves ice, no?" Kristoff gave an uneasy chuckle but found that he couldn't stay anxious around the jolly spirit who smelled like cookies. "Yeah, I do love ice," Kristoff replied genuinely, "It's what I've built my life around. I remember that year you brought new reins for Sven."

"Oye!" Bunnymund snapped as he stomped his foot on the ground, summoning a large green hole, "I don't know about the lot of you, but Easter's in a few days and I've work that needs to be done."

"You're right, Bunnymund," Tooth sighed a bit as she began to hover away back towards where Bunnymund stood with Sandy. "I have to get back to organizing teeth. And I'm sure Sandy here has dreams to spin for children somewhere in the world."

Elsa stepped towards the small group and smiled warmly at them as North waited for Tooth and Sandy to settle onto the large sled. "The people of Arendelle have thanks for all that you've done for them; I'm sure that without your help, this kingdom would have fallen under Pitch's shadows."

For the first time since the Guardians came here, Jack saw a small grin on Bunnymund's face before he jumped into his hole. "No worries, your highness. Just doing our job," The large rabbit's voice echoed before the hole closed in on itself.

"We wish you best of luck in renovation," North replied brightly as he snapped his reindeers to attention; Sven had been focusing a bit too much on the one in the front, and the noise startled him. "Goodbye, everybody!" Tooth chirped as she waved at the group standing on the ground, and Jack heard Anna yell back to Tooth the loudest, waving beside Kristoff who raised a brow at her.

From his seat on the sled, Jack watched Sandy give him another thumbs-up and a nod as several little golden hearts floated over his head. Jack bit his lip and was hoping that Elsa hadn't seen the gesture, but the small chuckle he heard from her said otherwise.

"What were the two of you talking about, hmm?" Elsa questioned him smoothly as the sled raced over the ground before pulling up into the sky and flying until the red speck of it disappeared into the sunrise. Jack shifted his feet and suddenly found the earth a very interesting thing to look at.

"You know Sandy doesn't talk."

Then Elsa nudged his side and replied playfully, "One can speak without using words though." Jack turned to see something vivid and glimmering in Elsa's cerulean gaze. The winter spirit smiled inwardly before he reached out to wrap an arm around Elsa's waist and move forward to brush his lips against her ear.

"I'll give you a hint- she has cold hands and a warm heart." Elsa's cheek turned pink against his own, and much to the spirit's pleasant surprise she reached her own hands up to place against his back, pulling him closer until he felt the soft beating of her heart against his.

Her own lips tickled his ear as she whispered back, "My only regret in seeing you is that I haven't seen you sooner, Jack Frost."

_(Thank you.)_

Then the two of them heard a happy little sigh. "Somebody needs to paint the two of them like this," Anna's voice reached Jack's ear, quiet though it was, "it's insane how beautiful they look together."

Then the two of them stepped back uneasily from each other, and Kristoff laughed back to Anna, "Looks like they remembered who was watching." Jack could still feel the warmth of Elsa against his cheek as the queen began to walk briskly towards the rear castle door. The Guardians had departed from the back of the castle where there were less eyes to see them.

"There's much work to be done," she shot back to the three others behind her, and Anna turned to Jack with a tight frown on her face. "I'm sorry- we always seem to be interrupting the two of you."

Kristoff scoffed and folded his arms. "Maybe they should stop being in places where we can interr- Anna! Hey! Quit pulling on my arm!" Anna began to tug Kristoff back towards the castle as her voice rang in the crisp spring air, "Elsa's right! We need to see what we can do about repairing this old thing!"

Jack watched the pair leave as Kristoff yelled something about ice that needed chopping in the mountains and Anna shot something back about needing, "big strong men who could help lift the heavier things."

 _A place where we can't be interrupted,_ He thought privately to himself as he followed with slow feet into the castle.

_I know just the perfect place._

* * *

"This book looks so ragged from when I've last seen it," Jack commented as his eyes raked over the navy blue cover with silver lettering. Elsa turned her gaze away from him and held the book closer to her chest. "I may have leafed through it a few times over the years," She mumbled more to herself than him as she brought the book away from her and opened to a page that had the top corner of it dog-eared.

Jack stepped closer and saw that it was the inked picture of him. "Sometimes when I felt especially lonely," Elsa's voice came out as soft and pondering, "I'd take this book from the library during the night and read it by the candle. I liked to think that you were out there, somewhere, bringing joy to others with your frost. They weren't afraid of your powers like they were of mine.

"I'd put my hand over the picture and try to imagine what you actually looked like. Not as an older man with a long white beard, but a youthful man with a bright smile and brighter eyes."

Jack looked up from the picture to find Elsa's deep blue eyes staring into his own. "I was right about that. Although seeing you now, I realize that the picture I kept in my mind could have never done you justice." By now her voice was soft enough that it almost seemed to be swallowed by the tall bookcases flanking the two of them.

Elsa closed the book and brought herself closer to the spirit, to where he could see the faint freckles dotting over her pale nose. The queen realized long ago that what she imagined him to be never came close to how he really was. Whenever Jack held her close, he felt both cold and warm, and his scent was sharp like pine needles in the winter.

She tried to keep the unfamiliar heat from creeping into her cheeks when she thought about him bare-chested, his muscles lean and firm; and that playful little smirk on his face when he saw how red he could make her simply by taking off his shirt. Perhaps she had enjoyed that smile a bit too much.

 _But more than anything,_ Elsa's voice whispered inside of her chest, _it's his eyes. I never thought I could feel so free and yet so trapped by another's gaze._

"Jack," Elsa found the words leaving her lips too fast for her to stop, "you are the most beautiful person I've ever seen." And then her shoulders tightened at the realization of what she'd just said as she turned away from Jack's widened, flashing eyes, holding the book tight to her chest once more. The air thickened with the silence between them.

Footsteps pattered softly and slowly until she could feel Jack's presence behind her like butterflies kissing her skin and making it tingle. His voice came out in that deep, smooth rumble that haunted Elsa's dreams more than once.

"Elsa, I-"

"My queen? My queen, are you in here?" A royal guard's voice reached their ears from the front of the library, making both of them freeze where they stood. A second passed where Jack watched Elsa try to shape the words in her mouth before releasing them, and they came out with only a small trace of restlessness.

"Yes, I am. What is it that you need?"

"The steward and architects would like to talk to you concerning the renovation of the castle." The heavy padding of the guard's feet echoed against the wooden floor, and Jack saw Elsa's figure loosen as she became cool and composed once more; then the guard appeared from behind one of the tall bookshelves.

"They're waiting for you in the courtyard, your highness. Shall I escort you?"

Elsa took a deep breath then, and nodded slightly at the guard. "Yes, you may." The guard's eyes glanced from her face to what she was holding in her hands.

"Are you taking the book as well, my queen?"

It was then that Elsa realized she'd been clutching the book tightly in her arms, and she almost hastily shoved it back onto the shelves where it was nestled between the other books categorized under 'Fairy Tales.'

"Well," She said smoothly to the royal guard as her hands clasped together in front of her, "Shall we go now to the courtyard?"

* * *

Days rolled by where Elsa and Jack scarcely had time to talk privately to each other. Rebuilding the castle required hiring several carpenters and buying the materials necessary to make it sturdy once more; Elsa spent many hours in the advisor's study and in the courtyard, conversing with countless others concerning whether or not they should stick to the original blueprints or branch towards a more modern direction.

It was all so tiresome and so very, very dry.

"If you were not by my side, I think I would have gone mad by now," Elsa whispered to Jack one cool morning as they walked beside the chief architect, holding several scrolls in his arms and babbling on about whether or not they should make the new wall paneling from mahogany or oak.

"I heard cherry wood is all the rage now, though," the architect said brightly to her, "If your highness so desires it, we could have some ordered from Wesselton."

"No!" Elsa replied almost instantly as Jack threw his head back to laugh at the look on her face. "No, that won't be necessary. Oak will do just fine."

And thus the days stretched into weeks as the castle slowly became whole again; tarps were pulled over the places that remained gaping holes to keep out the creatures and night air. Both Elsa and Anna had to move to different rooms as the damage had been heavily dealt to that part of the castle.

The queen found now, that when she hadn't collapsed onto the guest bed and fallen asleep instantly from exhaustion, whatever energy she had left to think with was consumed by thoughts of the winter spirit. Jack would spend much of his time around her, yet would also pull away some times to talk to Anna and Kristoff; Anna conversed with the decorators and Kristoff helped the carpenters with building.

Elsa tried not to mind whenever he did so, for whenever they spent too much time together both grew restless with thoughts of what passed in the library. One night she stood by the fire in her room, slowly undressing herself as her chamber maid poured water into a large tub. Elsa never needed the water to be warm, or even tepid; she always enjoyed it cold and fresh from the well.

When the maid left and Elsa placed one delicate foot into the water before slipping in, she wondered where Jack was right now in the world, or if he'd even left the castle at all. She grasped the bar of soap placed on the stool beside the tub and held it to her nose; vanilla used to be her favorite scent. But at that moment all she could think about was the crisp, clean smell of pine needles.

If Jack was still in the castle, if he decided at that moment to consult Elsa with something and found her like this, in the middle of the large room with only the water hiding her bareness… flustered as the two of them may become, Elsa probably wouldn't mind.

It was ridiculous how hot her face became when she imagined Jack opening the door to her room, a questioning look on his face that explodes into one of shock when he sees her lying in the tub with no more covering her than the day she came into this world. Elsa would cover her chest with quick arms, and Jack would turn away and close the door with apologies leaving his lips in a long, unsteady stream.

But, for some reason, a small part that lay deep in Elsa hoped that Jack wouldn't do such a thing if he saw her like this. That small part of her hoped that instead, the winter spirit would flash her that playful little smirk as he closed the door slowly behind him, the firelight dancing over his handsome, elf-like features.

"My apologies, your highness," Jack's voice would ring in the air with that smooth, velvety rumble that Elsa wanted to tangle herself in, "I didn't mean to catch you in such a state of exposure. But-" and at this point the spirit would take one long, clean step closer to where Elsa sat bright and flustered with her chin low into the water, "If you require assistance with reaching certain parts of your body…I'll be more than happy to fulfill that need."

Elsa opened her eyes and found that the water in the tub had frozen into a solid block. She sighed, frustrated at herself as she unfroze the water and nestled herself into it once more, the water cooling her stinging cheeks. Too many times that fantasy had dirtied her thoughts.

That wouldn't happen. That could never happen; in spite of all his playful sarcasm, Jack was too modest and respectful to do such a thing. But what if he wasn't…?

Elsa didn't allow herself to think about it anymore as she hastily washed her hair and scrubbed her skin, drying herself off and changing into her favorite sleepwear, a soft blue nightgown that whished over the floor with every step she took.

The maids came in to carry the tub out as Elsa settled into bed and blew out the last candle, leaving her room shrouded in darkness. For the first few nights she'd been deathly afraid that Pitch would invade her dreams once more, seeking to control her mind with words like black water. But as the nights passed by filled with exhaustion from the busy days, Elsa grew a bit less worried about such a thing happening. She would never let the dark spirit trap her inside her own shadows again, for the light had dissolved them.

But as the night hours drew on, Elsa found that it wasn't fear of Pitch keeping her mind awake. Rather, it was someone else entirely.

She needed to see him. They'd been around each other these few weeks, but never had private time to themselves. However, she grew flustered thinking about her words to him in the library; he now knew at least part of what she felt toward him.

Finally, after quashing the small dispute that tightened her chest, Elsa pulled the covers off and stepped out of the bed, her feet touching the cool wooden floor. The moonlight seemed brighter that night as it passed through the large window and pooled onto the ground towards the heavy wooden door; it was as if the Man on the Moon himself were beckoning her to seek him out.

She stepped into the dark hallway and walked quietly past the doors of the sleeping. The queen already knew where she would find Jack as her feet carried her into the library; sure enough, the winter spirit stood leaning against the large window and staring up at the moon, a million questions dancing in his eyes. But then he turned his gaze from the moon and fixed it on her, and the glimmer in his eyes made something soft burn inside of Elsa's stomach.

"Elsa, it's past midnight," He said to her in a voice that conveyed no surprise, as if he had actually been expecting her to come to him. Suddenly all of the nervousness that tightened her insides evaporated at the smooth rumble of Jack's words, and Elsa began to walk towards him in quick steps, closer and closer until she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down until his forehead pressed against hers.

A few seconds passed to where Elsa felt the chill of Jack's breath against her lips, and she smelled the sharpness of his skin, fresh like pine needles. Neither of them knew who moved first, but their lips came together for the first time that made a bright bolt rip through their bodies.

Jack dropped his staff to clatter forgotten against the ground, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her as their mouths moved together. Their kiss was wet and a bit clumsy as Elsa pushed Jack against the window, and a low growl left Jack that reverberated throughout her body as his arms pulled her closer to him still. Elsa found that with each brush his lips made over hers, a small knot tightened inside of her chest.

When they finally pulled apart from each other, the kiss having only lasted a few seconds, it took a few more seconds for both of them to remember how to breathe.

"I want you to take me to the lights," Elsa's lips whispered against Jack's as both of them panted quietly, their cold breath intermingling. "Let's go to a place where we have all the time in the world to ourselves."

She felt Jack's hands brush over her back, cool and large as his chest heaved against hers. His lips whispered back, "'I've been waiting since forever to hear you say that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't push this chapter out until now! Work's been consuming my life :*(


	10. Fragments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It must have been lonely," He heard her mutter softly as the lights continued to shift in their majesty of colors above them, "having no one to see you for such a long time."
> 
> "I should say the same to you," He replied even more quietly as he held her closer.

_(Observe)_

A place so vast and unbroken that the ends of the sky stretch into every corner of your vision, a cold blanket of white underneath your feet and the black veil of night over your head. Imagine that black veil pierced with glimmering white holes blurred by an immense, shifting expanse of green and purple that lights the darkness with a beauty so surreal, so unearthly that it seems like your eyes were gazing at rainbow fragments of another world.

"And to think," Elsa said with awe making her voice breathless, "that this had only been a small journey away from Arendelle."

There were stretching expanses of black mountains in the distance, but they were small, as everything seemed so small compared to the cosmic heavens above the two of them. Jack had taken Elsa to one of the most beautiful places he could imagine; but the rolling rainbow that lit the night was dim compared the light burning in Elsa's eyes.

She turned her cerulean gaze towards him, and it was sparkling with a sort of quiet happiness that made small things beat against Jack's chest as he smiled warmly back at her.

"Then you like it?"

"Jack," Elsa replied, the light in her eyes reaching her voice, "'Like' does not even begin to describe how I feel about such a place."

It was just the two of them, small beings in the massive arctic region that seemed to roll into forever all about them. Its white, clean expanse boasted a quiet solitude that could not have been found anywhere else on the earth.

And Jack knew he could not have found a better person to be alone with.

"Have you come here a lot before?" Elsa questioned the spirit as he came up to wrap an arm around her shoulders. They both stared as the lights for a bit before Jack answered. "Not often, no," He replied, "Only when I have much to ponder about and no other place to hear my thoughts."Jack did enjoy being around other people, even though he was never seen by them before he met Elsa.

At times, however, though the loneliness that encompassed Jack's existence had always been too much to bear, even the sociable spirit needed a place to retreat; a sort of safe haven that sympathized with the emptiness inside of him.

"This is a good place to think," Elsa spoke softly as she curled closer to lean her head against Jack's chest. Her silky platinum hair brushed under Jack's nose as he closed his eyes and smelled vanilla softness. It was amazing how she could keep him anchored to reality and yet pull him away from it at the same time.

Elsa moved to wrap slender arms around the winter spirit's back and pull him into a hug. "It must have been lonely," He heard her mutter softly as the lights continued to shift in their majesty of colors above them, "having no one to see you for such a long time."

"I should say the same to you," He replied even more quietly as he held her closer.

Then the queen moved her head to brush her lips against Jack's, her hand reaching up to run through soft white locks as he deepened their kiss. Their kiss was slow and shy this time, and it left butterflies dancing under their skin as Jack moved away to whisper against her lips, "and yet we found each other through all of those empty years."

Then there was a painful flash in Elsa's eyes as she remembered something. "Jack," She said with the smile erased from her voice as she moved away from his arms, "I know now what your eyes were saying the night you…the night I told you about the ceremony." Elsa looked at Jack with flickering eyes as the spirit felt something heavy clutch his chest.

Then she continued as her words became brittle and bleached. "I also know that…since you have forever to live and I only have one life to my own on this earth…"

Jack cut her off with words that barely wavered.

"Please, don't," the spirit said to her as he tried to keep the tears from staining his voice. He knew all too well where this would lead; and he know that his heart couldn't bear hearing her say-

"…Sooner or later, I won't be with you any longer. And that's why-"

_(I've been so afraid. I'm still afraid now let myself fall for you; though I've been alone for so long, I can't even imagine what centuries would feel like on the soul. We are so alike, and that's why I'm still so, so afraid.)_

* * *

For over ten years, Elsa had only seen the shadow of her sister's feet at her door. Anna had come back, day after day when they were children, her voice bright as her little knuckles rapped against the door.

" _Do you wanna build a snowman?"_

She'd ask, or something similar to that proposal, but only silence would greet her words. Still, Anna persisted over the years, although Elsa's lack of response made the knocks become fewer and far in between, days stretching into weeks, then months as the years went by; the knocks would only come at arbitrary times by then until Elsa wondered if Anna would stop coming all together. In her own selfish way, Elsa wished that she wouldn't.

Until the one day that a maid came into Elsa's room, eyes glossy from the dreadful news she had received. "Your highness," She said softly to Elsa as the former princess sat on her bed with a book on her lap, "I'm afraid that the voyage your parents made…was met with a terrible storm. Both the king and queen along with the rest of the ship had been taken at sea."

 _No,_ the word echoed dully in Elsa's mind as she stared at the maid, _no no no._

The last thing Elsa said to her parents had been over a week ago. She hadn't even been there with Anna to see them off; and now those words will be the last words they will ever hear from her.

" _Why?!" Elsa wailed as she clutched her arms tightly, her eyes steeped in cold, unshed tears while her father moved forward to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Why did God do this to me?! I hate these hands, I HATE THEM!"_

" _Please, Elsa," Her father said gently to her as she butted his hand away, her lips tight with frustration. Her mother stood looking at Elsa over the king's shoulder, her brows drawn together tightly as if she wanted to comfort her daughter but lacked the words to do so._

" _I can't be around Anna, I can't be around anybody," Elsa practically growled at the two of them, "how do you expect me to marry and have children when all I can do is hurt them?!"_

_Elsa was stunned at how bold she sounded; this had been the first time she'd spoken against her parents about anything. The king seemed taken aback at the bite in her words as well, but when he spoke again his voice was firm and heavy, a voice that demanded obedience._

" _The day will come when you will take the power of Arendelle into your own hands. And when that day comes I hope you will learn to stop seething like a child and reign like a queen; every queen needs a king to reign at her side."_

_Then Elsa's mother moved forward to say something, but her husband shushed her with a wave of his hand as he continued with, "I also trust you will learn to fully control your powers by then. This is for the good of the kingdom."_

' _Blast what's good for the kingdom,' Elsa thought to herself, 'all I want to do is hide in my room and stay there forever.'_

_But she stood in her parent's bedroom, and the safety of her own room was far away. All around them, servants were moving about, packing things into chests and carrying them out the door to put on the ship._

" _There will be a ceremony exactly two weeks after your coronation," Her father began slowly, making sure that every word glued itself to Elsa's mind. "You will find a suitable husband, and you will pass on the lineage of this family - powers or no powers."_

_Biting her lip almost hard enough to bleed, Elsa finally let the tears roll over her cheeks as she turned to march out of her parent's bedroom. "Have a safe voyage," She bit back over her shoulder, leaving the king and queen to stand stunned as their servants bustled about while trying to keep their eyes to their work._

_Her father was wearing that deep sapphire cloak with the moon pendant shining silver in the sunlight._

_A week passed with no more words between Elsa and her parents, and when the ship launched to sea she stayed in the library, staring out the window at the huge crowd that gathered to see their king and queen off. Anna stood at the front, copper hair gleaming as she waved her hand at the retreating vessel._

"I'll leave you to your thoughts, dear princess," The maid said tenderly as she left Elsa to sit stunned on her bed, the door closing with a quiet click. Elsa finally looked down to stare at the book she'd been reading, her hand moving away from the inked picture as cerulean eyes traced over the black lines that formed the face of a man with a long, white beard.

A tight noise left Elsa's throat as she slammed the book shut and tossed it across the room. It smacked against the wall and fell open on the floor, the man's inked eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"You were never there for me," Elsa muttered with pain flaring in her chest. She fell backwards onto her bed and closed her eyes as the light of the dying sun swathed the room in orange. Her tongue felt dry and bitter in her mouth, and she thought about Anna's hair, the way it shined orange in the light as she waved their parents her final goodbye.

_Anna._

_I never was a good sister to you after what happened._

A few days passed by as the funeral was given for the ones who never returned. In the fury of the storm, no one survived.

Elsa stayed in her room the whole time, the book of the winter spirit taken back by one of the servants to the library as she only allowed herself to leave for the bathroom. The servants placed her food by the door as per usual, although one time a servant had been daring enough to rap at the door softly and say, "Your highness, the funeral rites for your mother and father are being held as we speak."

" _But there's nothing to bury,"_ Elsa wanted to reply. Instead she said in a startlingly cool voice, "Very well then." A few more seconds ticked by as the shadow under the door finally disappeared with slow footsteps down the hall.

Empty silence.

Then, sometime later she heard another knock, three crisp raps that broke the stillness. Elsa pushed herself up from where she lay on her bed, and turned to look at the door.

"Elsa?"

Anna's voice reached Elsa's ears in a soft lilt. Elsa froze, then, listening to her sister as cold hands clenched the soft fabric of her bed sheets. "Please, I know you're in there," Anna continued in a gentle voice threatening to crack like glass, "people are asking where you've been."

Cold, trembling energy burned in Elsa's veins as she got up from her bed and walked with quiet feet to the door. She placed a hand on it, felt the wood turn cold under her fingertips as her ears desperately tried to catch the words of Anna that only seemed to come out in a voice close to a whisper.

Anna's voice continued talking, but Elsa never heard the words as she drowned them out, only listening to the melodic bells tainted with something sad. By then she'd turned to slide her back against the door, down until she brought her knees close to her chest.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Those were words that had finally found their way into the stormy bitterness of Elsa's heart. Anna asking such a question after what happened seemed…seemed like she was begging for any way to know that Elsa was still there, and listening to her.

Elsa wanted to call out to her.

But then she felt something cold brush her cheek, something cold but still surprisingly warm compared to the snowflakes floating suspended in the air all around her; snowflakes that were still, cold and empty like her life had been. The warmth of that brush on her cheek against all the cold, it was _too much._

The tiniest of cries left Elsa's throat before it became tight with bitter tears, and she buried her head in her knees.

_Never there for anyone._

* * *

"…That's why I'm afraid of this thing between us."

She finished her words in a dry rasp of a whisper, her eyes feeling heavy as they stared into Jack's sparking sapphire gaze. Elsa had finally found someone who knew the feeling of cold brilliance, and even colder isolation; another person who could touch her and make her feel warm for the first time in her life. But now she was pushing him away before she knew what the feeling burning in her chest was.

Jack reached his hand out, and placed it on Elsa's cheek. It was cold, but it was surprisingly warm as it melted the snowflakes lying still, cold and empty inside of her. _That touch from so long ago…_

When Jack finally replied, his voice was soft and filled with emotions that made the flickering warmth in Elsa burn that much brighter.

"I promise you, Elsa, that if you want me to stay with you, I will do everything in my power to fill your days with the happiness that you were never given; and I would give up forever if it meant I could grow old with you."

Jack didn't know if he could find a way to relinquish his immortality. But if the Moon let him so, he would leave it all behind in a heartbeat to be with the only person who made life worth living to him; for now he couldn't imagine an existence without her.

Elsa's eyes glimmered at his words, and when her hand reached up to touch the spirit's hand on her cheek she uttered gently, "You're making it impossible for me not to fall for you."

Then Jack stepped closer to her, felt her cold breath kiss his face as he touched his forehead against hers and stared into her eyes with all the passion in the world behind his.

"I love you."

The of them lay in the snow and stared up at the celestial heavens, speaking little and simply finding comfort in being so close together as Elsa lay curled against Jack's chest with her head tucked under his chin. Little by little, both of them felt the empty parts of their souls being filled with a private yet wonderful feeling that neither of them would ever relinquish.

They stayed like that for a while, watching the lights shift in rainbow bits of green and purple before dawn began to show over the horizon. They were both reluctant to leave, but Jack finally took Elsa home once the lights faded bit by bit into the purple sky.

And when the winter spirit eased Elsa into the familiarity of her room, she took his hand with gentle fingers and began to guide him toward the bed.

"I only wish to lay with you for a little while longer," Elsa said with the tiniest trace of amusement when she saw the red rising in Jack's face. Just a little while longer before she would have to go back to being Arendelle's queen.

There were only a few more hours before the sunrise as Elsa rested her cheek on the silky fabric of the bed sheets. Jack lay behind her, letting her settle back against his chest as long arms wrapped over her figure and cold fingers laced themselves through hers. Jack's breath brushed the back of her ear and she giggled softly at how much it tickled.

_(I've loved you since the day we shared this earth.)_

Jack smiled as he blew softly on her ear, making her quiet laughter bounce against the walls of the room. "Stop that," She scolded slightly, shifting against the spirit as he cuddled her closer. He brought his lips to her ear, his voice bright with mirth.

"Sorry, I just love hearing you laugh."

Again, Elsa felt that sensation of butterflies under her skin as she drew a long breath and closed her eyes. The room was still dim as the sun had yet to show itself, but there was still light enough to pierce behind her eyes as she felt the steady heartbeat of the winter spirit against her back.

"Would you like me to hum you a song?"

Jack's voice rang behind her ear in that silky rumble. Elsa thought about what it would be like to fall asleep to the sound of another's voice.

"That would be nice," She said in a soft and pondering manner, and a few moments after the steady vibration of Jack's voice filled the air in melodious waves. Elsa didn't recognize the song he was humming, but it made her think of young, beautiful things, the start of a new life.

As her mind began to drift to sleep sweetened by the sound of the winter spirit's lullaby, Elsa thought of how lucky a woman she was to have met a man like Jack Frost; and how the warmth she felt blossoming in her chest that spread to encompass every fiber of her being was a feeling that she knew she'd never have with anyone else.

_(And I will love you long after my last breath.)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys are enjoying spring! It's my favorite season (next to winter of course)


	11. Promises to Keep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack looked back at her then, but his eyes had suddenly dried. "I shouldn't have said that and made this more difficult than it already has to be. But at least let us be together for the next week, just one more week. Though you won't be mine, Elsa…I will always be yours."

The light of the morning found Elsa humming brightly to herself as she dabbed a bit of pink paint onto her lips in front of the mirror. She couldn't stop the giggles that bubbled in her chest every time she thought of Jack, and how the warmth of his arms and chest left her skin tingling all over even as she fitted herself into a lavender dress that brought the pastel hues of spring to mind.

When Anna knocked on Elsa's door, the queen's happy little chirp of "enter!" made a knowing smile grace Anna's lips as she came in to see Elsa combing her hair into a braid that ran down her back.

"Someone's in a fair mood this morning," the princess said with lights sparkling in her azure eyes. "Could it be a certain spirit of winter making my sister's smile so bright?"

Elsa looked at Anna and felt a grin spread over her face that crinkled her eyes. "You would be correct." Anna's delighted squeal woke those who were still sleeping; Jack chuckled to himself from where he strolled about in the castle gardens with the perfume of flowers sweetening the air, happiness shining on his own features.

"So you two are together? Lovers even?" Anna clasped her sister's hands excitedly as the queen shook her head, although her smile was still firmly in place. "Yes, we are together. But we've only kissed, nothing more."

Anna's mouth puckered into a little 'o' before turning into a mischievous little grin as she winked at Elsa. "There's still time enough for that. Kristoff and I didn't even begin to share the same bed until a week ago. In fact, the last time-"

"Anna, please, whatever you and Kristoff do behind closed doors is no concern of mine," Elsa interrupted; Anna laughed at the pained look on the queen's face as she replied, "It just tickles me that you've found someone who can make you so happy."

"Yes," Elsa replied softly before she laid a hand on her sister's shoulder, "but you've also brought happiness into my life. I'm glad that we're able to be around each other like we were as children." She pulled Anna into a hug and smiled when Anna's arms crept around her back.

"This is a wonderful time for the both of us," the princess said with delight warming her voice as her warm cheek pressed against Elsa's cool one. "It feels as if nothing could go wrong ever again."

Then Olaf came bouncing through the door, the little snow cloud hanging over his head. "Guys! Guys! The chief architect said that the castle's almost finished being repaired!" He stopped and grinned all the wider at the two sisters as Elsa smiled back at him. "Wonderful! Could you tell him that I'll meet him in the courtyard this afternoon?"

"More wonderful news, my queen," Came another voice from around the door as Moira appeared holding a basket with a fresh pile of bed sheets. "The steward said that we'll be finished in time for the ceremony to be next week!" Both Elsa and Anna froze at that as Moira walked away humming to herself.

Anna gave Elsa a pained look as Olaf glanced between the two of them, concerned now that the smiles from their faces had vanished. "I spoke too soon," She said to the queen, but Elsa merely shook her head.

"It was going to happen sooner or later. It was our parent's wish since I was eighteen."

Anna took Elsa's chilly hands into her own, warm fingers rubbing over smooth skin as the princess searched her eyes keenly. "But what about Jack?"

The thought of the spirit tightened Elsa's throat; she didn't want the ceremony to happen any more than he did. But Elsa knew that if the blood of the kingdom was to be kept running, someone will have to fill the seat beside her.

The words stuck in Elsa's mouth before she had the capability to pull them free. "Anna, you know he cares about me, and I about him. He'll understand it in due time."

"No, he won't," Anna said sharply to Elsa, catching the older sister off guard, "it doesn't matter how many years will pass between you – all he'll know is that another man is sharing your bed and keeping you warm at night."

"We- it isn't necessary for my husband and I to share the same bedroom."

"You will share your first night, though – and you will need to bear his children."

The bitter truth rang clear in Anna's words, and Elsa found that she couldn't stand it. "I know that already! Blast it Anna, this is already difficult enough for me as it is!" She pulled her hands away from the princess's and turned away, glaring out towards the spring morning. Suddenly it didn't seem as beautiful anymore.

Anna paused then, and bit her lip at the red rising in her sister's cheeks. "I'm sorry, Elsa," she began quietly, "I'm merely trying to see all of this from Jack's point of view."

"Point of view concerning what?"

The two royals startled at the sound of the winter spirit's voice as Jack strolled in through the door with his staff resting on his shoulder. He smelled faintly of the flowers from the garden.

Anna began to stumble over her words. "I, ah- point of view concerning-"

"The ceremony that will be held next week."

The coolness of Elsa's voice took both Anna and Jack by surprise. They turned to look at Elsa whose face was as blank now as a clean sheet of paper. "The reconstruction of the castle is almost finished, so preparations for the ceremony will begin soon."

It was unsettling how quickly Elsa could wrap her queenly façade around her feelings. Anna looked frantically between the two of them now, Elsa to Jack, Jack to Elsa. Jack, meanwhile, still hadn't said anything. The cane rested still on his shoulder, held by one tight hand.

"…Y-you know what? We haven't had breakfast yet! Who wants to go have some breakfast?" Anna started quickly, and then nodded down at Olaf for help. Olaf's eyes widened.

"Yeah, that sounds great! C'mon everyone let's go!"

Both Anna and Olaf were trying to cut the tension in the air into thinner bits, but it proved entirely fruitless. Both the queen and the spirit still stood staring at one another, and neither of them had heard what they said.

"…We'll leave you two alone to discuss this," Anna said quietly, and disappeared around the door with Olaf's hand in hers.

Elsa opened her mouth, taking a few moments for the thoughts in her mind to leave in a coherent sentence. "I'm sorry, Jack. It was my fault I let it become like this between us. If I hadn't-"

"It's fine. It's all fine. I know this is what your parents wished for you. You've already told me everything." Jack's face kept that faint smile, but the small catch in his voice betrayed everything. Elsa grasped her hands together with white knuckles.

"No, it's not fine. None of it is fine, and I realize that. We should have never…we should have never gone to see the lights together."

Then the faint smile disappeared as a long shadow fell over Jack's face. He stepped closer to the queen, trying hard now to keep his voice in check, and it came out in a thin whisper.

"Don't ever say that, Elsa. The lights were not a mistake. _We_ aren't a mistake. What was a mistake was for me to keep hoping that the ceremony would never happen."

Both of them had made that mistake, then.

The queen took a deep breath, and felt her lungs turn cold with her power. "I could have it all cancelled. The suitors, the marriage, everything. I could never marry anyone, and stay with you."

Would she do that? Could she even do that? Hope ran bright through the spirit's veins, but he quelled it quickly. No, of course she couldn't.

Jack then shook his head a bit too fast in response. "Don't deny your parents on my part. I won't begrudge you for carrying out their plans."

"Stop lying to me! Stop lying to yourself!"

Both Elsa's voice and temper had risen sharply when Jack said that. "You won't begrudge me for vowing myself to another man? You won't begrudge me for letting him be my first?! If you have a beating heart, it would be ripped to shreds at the thought of me-"

"Of course it hurts, Elsa! It hurts more than you could imagine! All I've ever wanted in my existence was to have someone to see me, someone with eyes to look into mine and hands to hold my own. Someone to remind me that winter isn't something lonely, and formless."

Elsa swallowed thickly, and watched the tears glisten in Jack's eyes as he continued. "I…I just wanted to know that I wasn't alone. And you showed me that I wasn't."

The spirit stepped closer still, dropping his staff onto the ground as he grabbed Elsa's shoulders, forcing her to see the pain behind his eyes. His next words came out in a bleached rasp.

"Is it selfish of me to want you for myself? Of course it is. But is it unjustified selfishness?"

Jack had already vowed that he was going to stay by her side no matter what. And he was going to let her know that.

"Just tell me this…no matter whom you marry, or whose children your bear…tell me that your heart will stay with mine. Tell me that you love me."

The aching in Elsa's chest was a pain she hadn't felt since she thought Anna had left the world as a frozen sculpture. It was hopelessness.

"Jack…"

"Queen Elsa? What is the matter, are you alright?"

Elsa's eyes flickered over to where a maid stood at the door with a seamstress. The maid continued a bit uneasily, "We were wondering if her highness would like to be fitted with a new outfit for the ceremony."

The seamstress's face brightened at the queen as she said, "We have an assortment of beautiful cloth to choose from! We are sure that our dear queen won't be disappointed with the selection."

Elsa flicked her gaze back to Jack, but he had already released her shoulders and was staring past her out the window with wet eyes. She nodded at the two, then, slowly.

"I'm sure I won't. But if you wouldn't mind waiting a few more minutes…?"

"Of course, your highness. We will be waiting in the hallway." Then they withdrew away from the doorframe and out of sight, but not far enough. Elsa could hear the two of them chatting with others, no doubt more servants holding bolts upon bolts of expensive cloth. The greatest expense of the year was to be used on the ceremony.

Jack looked back at her then, but his eyes had suddenly dried. "I shouldn't have said that and made this more difficult than it already has to be. But at least let us be together for the next week, just one more week. Though you won't be mine, Elsa…I will always be yours."

She wanted nothing more than to step forward and bury herself in his arms. It wasn't fair; her whole life had been unfair to her. She finally found one thing that she wanted, one person who gave her a happiness that she knew nobody else could give her, but privilege tore her away from him.

Fate is a cruel, beautiful thing.

"…I shouldn't keep them waiting," Elsa said softly to him. And she wasn't just talking about the servants standing in the hallway.

Jack smiled then, but there was no small amount of pain in his eyes. "Show them what a spectacular person you are. Not just as a queen with powers of ice, but as a woman with a heart large enough to keep all of her people in it."

Elsa looked down from his face to the moon pendant glimmering at his throat, and finally found the volume in her voice to call out to the servants.

"You may come in now. I'm ready for my fitting."

* * *

"Wow! What is that? It looks delicious!"

"Riccota gnocchi, dear princess. It's Italian cuisine; please do try some and tell the cook what you think."

Anna beamed at the servant standing beside the table laden with foreign food. "I already know I'm going to love it!"

Along with Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Jack had come into the banquet hall to gape at all of the exotic cuisine made by the kitchen staff for the ceremony. Letters had actually been sent to the other countries a week before the reconstruction was finished; something Elsa hadn't quite remembered doing.

Elsa looked down at all the food and arched a brow. "Snails?"

"Escargot for the French prince Gérard II, my queen. It happens to be a favorite of his."

Jack smirked at Elsa, who still stared down at the platter with pursed lips. "Try some."

The queen just flicked him a look and tenderly picked up a snail. Using a small utensil by the plate, she picked out the small slug within, hesitating a bit before she put it in her mouth. "Mmph," She began, making a face before she munched and swallowed. "It's chewy. But still rather good!"

She glanced over at Jack with a 'no' look on her face and Jack laughed a bit. Anna and Kristoff were sampling the Swiss chocolate that the head chef had made and found it very, very pleasing.

"Here Olaf, try some of this!" Anna chirped, plucking a piece of chocolate from the tray and holding it out to the little snow man. Olaf looked at it, and then at her. "Can I eat things?" He said in a wondering voice and Kristoff smirked.

"You'll never know unless you try."

Olaf did, and suddenly found chocolate to be his most favorite thing in the world next to Anna and Sven.

Elsa looked over all the food and frowned a bit. There was far too much food for the small group to consume. "It would be a shame for all this to go to waste," she murmured. Then she turned to a servant placing wine glasses on one of the tables.

"John, is it?" She asked the servant, and he seemed startled at being addressed. "Yes, your highness?" He hastily turned to her and almost dropped a few glasses from the tray. Elsa gave him a warm smile with the knowledge that he was fairly new.

"This is a lot of food for four people. The kitchen staff must have worked very hard at making all of it. Once you're doing filling the glasses, would you like to have an early supper?"

John gaped a bit, stumbling for the words to say. "I- if my queen so desires it."

Elsa smiled wider. "You're not required to eat, dear. You may break the chef's heart if you don't try out his desserts though - lots of love went into that German cake."

Anna smiled happily at her sister. "Great idea! We can have the servants take a break from preparing the castle to help us eat all of this!" She grinned at John, who turned pink and murmured his thanks before going back to placing glasses.

Elsa nodded a bit, smiling at her chief advisor. "Dietrich, please inform the servants that they may stop working for now to come share this cuisine with us." As Dietrich left, Jack grinned brightly at Elsa. "See what I mean? You do have a heart large enough to fit all of your people."

* * *

The week passed by filled with Elsa cramming for information concerning the suitors, proper greetings for several countries, along with knowledge concerning this and that about recent history between all the kingdoms.

 _Don't seat_ _Gérard_ _II_ _next to Thomas IV. Those two countries have had issues for centuries._

The entire castle was polished head to toe, fresh flowers placed into vases and floors polished until they were mirrors. There was little to no time for Jack and Elsa to speak to each other, but that was probably for the best. He was always at her side regardless, and he still held her in his arms until she fell asleep during the nights. It was the only happiness they could afford.

Then the day finally arrived, and Elsa still felt far from prepared.

The majority of suitors who visited from several kingdoms all around to make Elsa's acquaintance were, in general, fairly unremarkable- that is with the exception of three royals who arrived from places very different from one another.

The first royal worth mentioning was a somewhat older man titled king Andre of Romania. Andre was stoutly built and pale, with a deep brown gaze that flashed amber when the sun caught his eyes. His black hair and moustache streaked white gave a sort of fatherly air to him, and Elsa found his presence and words rather comfortable.

The second royal, who had been one of the first suitors to arrive, was prince Matthew of Denmark- Matthew had a powerfully built body and striking gray eyes underneath thick, furrowed brows; his blonde hair was close cropped and his taste in attire was dark and simple. One would think the Danish prince a disagreeable person quick to anger, although upon greeting him at the gates Elsa found Matthew to be a pleasant albeit taciturn man who looked at everything about him with keen eyes.

And the last noble to arrive was the Italian prince Vittorio di Genoa- Vittorio was a tall, finely built young man with brown hair gleaming gold in the sunlight, soft hazel eyes and skin kissed bronze by Apollo. Elsa found as much curiosity in Vittorio's dark Mediterranean features as he did with her own fair hair and milky skin; Jack was none too pleased by this.

"I didn't like the way he looked at you," Jack commented as he watched Elsa prepare for the evening celebration, rubbing rose-scented oil on her hands. "He almost seemed to be devouring you with his eyes."

Elsa turned her head to look at the spirit with a raised brow. "He must find my pale features an exotic sight; not to mention that the whole of Europe has caught wind of Arendelle and its queen who can make ice from thin air."

"I can only guess that will be the popular topic of the evening," Jack replied with a small grin, "Be prepared to answer the same questions over and over again. That is, if the suitors find the time to cease talking about themselves."

The queen smiled a bit to herself, thinking of some of the more pompous suitors who'd arrived at her castle with flashy entourages and even flashier outfits. Then Elsa's maids came into the room to help her with her hair and dress so she shooed Jack out with a small wave of her hand. "Let's see how this evening goes," were her words to Jack before the door clicked shut behind his back.

' _I wished this evening would never go at all,'_ the spirit thought dryly to himself as he leaned against the wall watching the servants bustle about for the last preparations. He knew that Elsa could not deny the final wishes of her parents, but that did not mean he had to like it one bit.

An hour or so passed before the door opened and Elsa stepped out in a silky sapphire dress that accented her slender physique and made her alabaster skin glow. The dress had silver threads weaving a delicate pattern down to her skirt with the sleeves hanging low on her shoulders, and her hair was done in a style similar to that of her coronation with a small jeweled crown nestled in her locks. A sapphire choker with a silver snowflake twinkled at her pale throat.

When Jack looked her over, he had to swallow something large before saying in a low voice, "Elsa, you look…"

"Breathtaking!" One of the maids chirped at Elsa as the queen smiled a bit and curtsied at them. "It would be impossible for the suitors to look away from you!" The maid's words forced Jack into remembering what the dress was for as he bit his lip and smiled thinly at Elsa. "You do look amazing though."

Elsa's smile faltered at the glimmer in his eyes, but before she could reply Anna's chipper voice reached their ears from across the hall.

"Elsa, you look gorgeous!" Anna squealed as she practically skipped over to her sister and Jack while Kristoff approached tugging at the stiff collar of his own outfit. Olaf was already in the hall, both entertaining and shocking the guests.

Anna looked at Jack as her smile faded into a tight frown.

"Well…I mean…"

Then the queen gently stopped her sister. "You look gorgeous too, Anna. And Kristoff, I must say you make a very dashing figure in that outfit. What a beautiful couple you two make."

"Gotta say the same to you guys!" Kristoff replied to Jack and Elsa once he stopped messing with his collar. "Look, you two match so well!" Anna tugged at his sleeve, which seemed to jolt Kristoff into remembering something. "Oh, and um…I wish my queen to find a suitor who's worth sharing the crown of Arendelle with." Then the blonde's eyes gleamed a bit as he smiled wistfully at them.

"We'll head to the ballroom. See you guys there," Anna said as she hooked arms with Kristoff and the two disappeared down the hall. Elsa folded her arms in front of her and smiled at Jack. "I had this dress made with you in mind."

"I see," was the only thing Jack could think of to say. Her eyes looked into his almost beseechingly before they looked down. "I must leave now. I have to address all the kingdoms at the opening ceremony."

She was about to turn away, but then the winter spirit stepped forward and pressed his lips against hers. A few seconds was all it took to steal Elsa's breath away as Jack ended their gentle kiss and stepped back.

"I just wanted to do that one last time," He said softly to her, his sapphire gaze darkened in the dim light of the evening. Elsa opened her mouth but no words came out.

"Queen Elsa, are you ready to address our guests?" Dietrich the chief advisor suddenly appeared, accompanied by the rest of the royal cabinet. They smiled at Elsa, and the queen finally remembered how to talk again.

"Yes, I am."

She began to walk down the hall with her advisors, but not before sparing a backwards glance at Jack. He stood leaning on his staff all alone in the hall as he smiled at her. "I'll be out in the gardens," the spirit called out to her, "if only to give you time to know all of your guests."

_No. Please. Stay here with me, at my side._

But all she could manage was the tiniest of nods, turning to stare forward as she swallowed the rock in her throat. She was walking towards the kingdoms of countries far and close, and away from Jack, the spirit with the playful smirk, the cold hands and the warm heart.

And the deepest eyes that she had ever stared into.

 _What's best for my kingdom,_ she thought with a heavy soul, _can only serve to rip my heart into pieces._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys are staying safe right now, wherever you are!


	12. Crystal Clear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'I told her I'd never leave her. But that was a foolish thing of me to say. If I do leave, then it would be easier for her, since she could marry and have children with another solid person, not an idea; not a fairy tale.'
> 
> (Not me.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how's everyone doing right now? Staying at home? Playing some games? Ordering pizza? In any case, I hope you guys are staying safe!

"Done with him already?" Anna asked Elsa as the queen stepped up beside her with a tight smile bordering on a grimace. "Of course I am," Elsa hissed at her sister through the smile, "you would not believe the nerve some of these men have! Perhaps I should stay here with you for a bit, at least to ease the urge of causing injury to someone."

The princess chuckled and shook her head as Kristoff returned with a plate full of cookies. He grinned at Elsa. "Don't tell me he also made a comment concerning whether or not your hair was truly that color."

"No, but this is seemingly worse- he asked if I caused blizzards whenever I became… intimate with myself." Kristoff's eyes became impossibly wide as he pressed the plate of cookies into Anna's hands and surveyed the crowd. "Tell me who he is- I'll show him not to be disgusting around women."

"Yes Kristoff, please do," Anna growled beside him, "you can hold while I punch."

"Please, you two," Elsa began suddenly, trying to extinguish the fire in their eyes, "I appreciate the concern for my dignity but that won't accomplish much. I swear it's as if my powers have turned me into a novelty rather than a respectable person." She sighed to herself as Kristoff and Anna observed her with keen eyes.

"Maybe you can go to the gardens for some fresh air," Anna hinted lightly.

The queen felt something sharp in her throat when she thought about who was in the gardens; then she replied with, "I don't think that will do me any good, but thank you for the suggestion." Anna tsk'd at her. "Poor Jack, out there all alone while you bask in the warmth of so many. All he would like, though, is the warmth of your smile."

Anna's attempt at making Elsa feel the guilt weighing heavy in her chest was all too successful. "Please don't start that," She replied quietly, letting her gaze drop to the floor. Anna observed her for a moment with a puckered frown before stating, "There's someone I'd like you to meet."

Then she was off into the crowd before Elsa could say anything as the queen gave Kristoff a questioning look. But the blonde just shrugged at her with a mouthful of macaroon as he offered her a cookie. Elsa couldn't trust herself to eat anything, since her throat was so tight she was afraid she'd choke; so she merely shook her head.

* * *

Outside in the garden, Jack sat on the cold stone of the fountain as he stared listlessly up at the moon. Many times before, he'd stare at it, stare until he could close his eyes and see the cold white of it etched behind his eyelids.

"I guess this is for the best, huh?" He said quietly to the moon, small as a dime in the blackened sky. The garden was vacant, all the royals having gone inside to hear Elsa's address. Some of the younger ones may be back soon though, couples holding hands and smiling, whispering sweet secrets to one another or hiding in the shadows of the hedges to make love. Jack's throat tightened at the thought.

She'd left him there in the hallway, leaning against his staff as he watched her retreating back. He didn't want to follow her for several reasons; the first and foremost being he couldn't bear seeing her dancing with any of the suitors.

She never had told him that she loved him.

He stood up and walked towards the back of the gardens, the normally brilliant rainbow of flowers dimmed by night's veil. Their perfume had faded in the cool air as he continued to stare up at the moon, walking toward it even though it stayed still in the sky, always thousands of miles away from him.

' _I told her I'd never leave her. But that was a foolish thing of me to say. If I do leave, then it would be easier for her, since she could marry and have children with another solid person, not an idea; not a fairy tale.'_

_(Not me.)_

"But it would also be easier for me," He said out loud, and at this point he wasn't sure if he was speaking to the moon any more. "The pain would fade and become dull over the years, and it won't sting as much when she's gone from this . Leaving her would be the best for both of us."

_(But why am I not leaving?)_

* * *

"Elsa!" The queen heard Anna call her name as the princess nearly danced up to her with a happy grin. Approaching beside her was a beautiful woman with auburn curls and a deep emerald dress; something in her soft chestnut eyes caught Elsa off guard a bit, but she was quick to quell it.

"Elsa, allow me to introduce you to Queen Beatrice, the mother of Prince Gérard II."

The queen of Arendelle smiled politely and curtsied towards the older woman. " _Bonjour,_ dear queen. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Beatrice returned the gesture and replied warmly, "the pleasure is mine, Queen Elsa."

The tiniest flash of pearly white teeth struck something familiar inside of Elsa. The Arendelle queen furrowed her brow a bit at Beatrice. "Excuse me as this may seem strange to ask, but…have we met before?"

Beatrice blinked heavy lashes at Elsa a few times before replying with, "Not to my recollection. I'm sure I could remember such a striking young woman as yourself." Elsa's mouth puckered a bit at the response before she smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Oh well, please excuse me then."

"Nothing that needs to be excused," the French queen replied brightly just as Prince Vittorio suddenly came by her side. Beatrice beamed at the Italian royal, placing a hand on his shoulder as she turned her smile to Elsa and Anna. "I'm sure you've already met Prince Vittorio- he happens to be quite the dancer, just something I feel needs to be shared."

Vittorio seemed harmless enough as he greeted her and Anna with, " _Buona sera_ \- my, how fortunate I am to have the acquaintance of such beautiful women."

Beatrice scoffed and rapped Vittorio lightly on the arm – a gesture that revealed to Elsa the nature of their relationship. "A smooth talker as well," the French queen lightly chided before winking at Elsa. "It's his way of saying he would like a dance."

Elsa knew that it would be rude to reject all of the offers extended to her, so with a practiced smile she took Vittorio's offered hand and was led to the floor. Other dancing couples carved a space large enough to let the two be the center of attention, something that Elsa wasn't quite sure she liked.

The Italian prince kept a polite distance from Elsa as he glided her around the floor. "The dear queen's mind has been elsewhere this whole evening, no?" Vittorio's words startled Elsa a bit as she let her grin falter ever-so-slightly at him. "Excuse me?"

Vittorio crinkled his eyes at her softly. "You wear your smile as stiffly as your dress. It is alright – you do not need to be false so long as I see you." Elsa thought she had practiced her smile well enough in front of the mirror, but it was then that she noticed how Vittorio's hazel eyes had a certain knowledge that only experience could engrave.

Finally the queen let her grin collapse into a tired frown- there was no need to fake it since the prince had a gaze that could cut through glass. "Much better," the Italian commented lightly, "quite nice to relax your face after such a tiresome evening."

"I do apologize" Elsa said in all sincerity as the prince dipped her away from the curious eyes of the guests, "It's not that I am disliking this dance."

"Then it's the ceremony that you dislike, perhaps?"

Vittorio was coming eerily close to the feelings that Elsa struggled to keep pushed towards the back of her mind throughout the whole event. Then the Italian prince brought her close enough to whisper, "Perhaps, Queen Elsa, it would be better to know that a marriage false and loveless will do ill to anybody's happiness." His voice had lowered to a rumble unbefitting of such a young man as Elsa grew uneasy.

But before she could ask what he meant, Vittorio stepped back and smiled at her as the song ended. The guests clapped politely and sought new partners as the prince turned to disappear into the thick of gleaming buttons and whishing skirts. "Wait," Elsa began softly as she started after Vittorio, but then another man stepped into her path. It was King Andre, gold buttons twinkling against the crimson shirt he wore with a white sash crossed over it.

"Oh, excuse me," The king said in a smiling voice as Elsa nearly bumped into him. Elsa peered quickly over his shoulder but her cerulean gaze couldn't capture Vittorio anywhere in the crowd. She turned her eyes to Andre then. "No, please excuse me," Elsa replied sheepishly as she extended her arms to Andre, letting the Romanian royal sweep her into a dance.

"The songs have all been quite lovely this evening," Andre conversed lightly with Elsa as the queen smiled and agreed. "It is said that Arendelle has some of the finest musicians in Europe."

"I can see the truth in those words," Andre replied, his voice as warm and sweet as his chocolate-colored gaze. "But your eyes- they seem so distant and veiled. There is someone else that you love who is not in this room."

Elsa began to wonder why her recent partners had such unusual knowledge of her inner thoughts, as she frowned slightly at the older man. "How do you know that?"

"Because I've loved another the same as you have. Of course, she is not in this room either; she has left this world long ago." Suddenly it made too much sense to Elsa that the king would be a widower. "I am sorry for your loss," She said softly, not knowing how else to reply.

But the king just chuckled. "It is alright. I'm sure you would have loved to have known her."

Curiosity poked at Elsa's tongue and finally drew a question from it. "Could you…tell me what kind of woman she was?" Andre turned to her as his eyes flashed amber. His words came deep from the thoughts of a lover.

"She was kind and lovely, but very quick with her wit – her mind could cut my own words into pieces, and we would banter with each other all day. That was only one of many things I cherished about her."

When Elsa smiled this time, she found it to be a sincere grin that crinkled her eyes. "Aw, but I could not expect it to last though," Andre said suddenly, and softly enough to just graze Elsa's ears. "Because I chose another life that she could not be a part of."

The song ended sooner than she expected as the Romanian ceased their dance. "I'm sure you realize now, dear queen, that I did not come here this evening seeking your hand. I merely wanted to tell you that once you find someone in this world whom you love with every part of your soul, leaving them will cut a hole too deep for any other person to fill completely."

The tinge in his voice made Elsa bite her lip. As Andre stepped away with one last warm smile that burned into her mind, she felt a hand on her shoulder, firm and heavy. She turned around a bit too quickly to see that it was the Danish prince Matthew.

"Excuse me, Queen Elsa," Matthew began in a deep, smooth voice, "it looks like this round has deemed us to be partners. If you don't mind."

"Not at all," Elsa murmured, trying to think of how Vittorio knew so much about her by seeing past her stiff smile and Andre by seeing past the protective gloss in her eyes. She wondered if Matthew was to be the same.

They began their waltz to the airy notes of the musicians.

"It seems that the snow queen has lost the bounce in her step. One too many dances, perhaps? Or have my friends left you with words that weigh heavily on your thoughts?"

The Arrendale queen looked at the Danish royal with flashing eyes and replied, "it depends on who your friends are; be they Prince Vittorio and King Andre, then yes."

Matthew let a tiny smile curl the corners of his lips as they maneuvered smoothly around the other couples. His vest was a silvery pearl gray with black threads weaving arrows down the front. "It's nothing personal- those two are able to read most others like they were open books. I'll admit that you were very convincing with your façade however."

"It's bizarre," Elsa murmured, more to herself than the Danish royal, "I have the strongest feeling that I've met them before, even though that would be impossible." She looked at the stone gray of Matthew's eyes as his own voice replied in a low rumble, "It may be more possible than you think, dear queen."

Elsa suddenly gasped, and took a few steps back from the tall man. "Y-your eyes," She said in a slightly trembling voice, "they flashed green for a moment." Matthew's gaze widened just a bit at her words before he smirked. "It's wearing off that fast, eh?"

"What's wearing off? Who are you exactly?"

Then the prince smiled that much wider as he winked at her. When he spoke again, he no longer had the stiff voice of a royal- it was a smooth rumble from a place much farther than Denmark. "Take a few guesses, sheila."

At this point Elsa wasn't sure she had heard him correctly. But there was no denying it anymore; his silver vest with black threads forming triangle-like markings down its front suddenly made too much sense. "You're- you're…"

Suddenly her back bumped against someone behind her, as she whipped around to see that it was Vittorio- the Italian gave her a smile that seemed too old for a man so young. "Excuse me, Queen Elsa," Vittorio began, placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her standing steady. "You seem to be in a bit of shock."

"Perhaps, dear queen," came another voice that Elsa remembered hearing one pink morning so many months ago, "you should get some fresh air in the gardens." Andre was there now, and there seemed to be more white speckling his otherwise jet-black hair. They were as white as the sash that Andre wore over his red shirt with twinkling gold buttons.

By then many of the guests had paused to watch Elsa and the three royals as Vittorio took one of her white hands into his own brown one. "Elsa," the Italian royal said softly in a voice that the queen had only heard once as a child, "maybe you should go to the gardens. I saw a rather dashing youth walking through them, with hair white like snow. He seems like he's waiting for someone…I think that someone is you."

"Your highness," a soft lilt reached her ears as the French queen Beatrice approached Elsa; beside her was a shorter man with a golden vest and blonde hair that almost seemed to be sparkling. "Are you to keep him waiting?" The emerald dress that Beatrice wore contrasted with the rosy pink of her eyes as the little blonde man gave Elsa a knowing smile.

Suddenly Elsa felt her sister's hand grasp at hers. "Come with me," Anna said as she already began to tug the queen away from the small group. In one of the very few times in her life, Elsa began to sputter. "They're- are they the-?"

"Yes, they're the Guardians," Anna said in a short tone as she led Elsa to a secluded hall, the windows darkened by night. "And they all took time from their very busy lives to help you sort yours." Then the princess grabbed both of her sister's hands, and before Elsa could say anything else she began with, "Imagine that you are a man. Not actually a mortal man, but one who's lived a few hundred years. And all of those years were filled with a loneliness that consumed the soul, for no matter how hard you tried, nobody else could see you."

"Anna-"

"Pretty sad, isn't it? But then, after so many years of empty grief, you find a girl. But she's no ordinary girl by any means – she has this wonderful power of ice that the moon gifted her, and you loved to watch her bring joy to others with her frost. Day by day, year by year you stay at her side with all the hope in the world that she will one day believe in her powers. For when that day comes she will also believe in you."

"Please-"

"And when she finally does see you, you have never felt so strong a joy before. Here is the one person in your existence whose spirit calls to your own, whose heart thumps in the same rhythm as yours. But she can't be with you because she feels guilty, and unsure of whether or not she deserves you."

Then the queen pushed away from Anna and shook her head. "I'm doing what's best for my kingdom," she said with her words wrapped in layers upon layers of cold, unfeeling priorities.

"No, Elsa – you're doing what's best for your _conscience_."

Elsa closed her eyes, seeing her mother and father behind them. She pulled her hands to her face and held it, trembling. "How do you know?" She finally rasped out with glass cutting into her voice. Anna held her shoulder and questioned her gently, "You feel guilty about mother and father, don't you? About your last words to them before they left on the voyage? That storm would have happened regardless of what you said to them."

The queen finally opened her eyes to stare hard at her sister. "How do you know about what I said to them?"

"I know because I hid behind the door that day." Anna grabbed both of Elsa's hands and pulled them away from the stark white of her face. Azure eyes stared beseechingly into clouded cerulean pools as princess continued with, "I was walking by when I heard them talking."

* * *

" _Dear, perhaps you were too harsh on her," the queen said to her husband as he stood staring at the door that Elsa had stormed out of._

" _Perhaps," king said after a slow moment or two, "But alliances with other kingdoms are necessary for Arendelle's safety. I wish it didn't have to be like that – and I wish that she'd never been cursed by those damned powers."_

_Another moment of heavy silence before the soft whooshing of the queen's skirts as she drew closer to her husband. "Do you ever think that her powers are something more than a curse?" Her voice came out in a pondering manner. "That God had given her the control of ice to be used for a greater purpose? If Elsa can grow to accept her powers rather than fear them, she may be the only protection Arendelle needs."_

_Anna had been walking down the hall towards her parents' room at that moment. She was going to ask her parents something almost trivial, but then stopped once her father's voice reached her ears. Quickly and quietly, she drew near the open door and hid behind it, squeezing herself into the shadows as she continued to eavesdrop on the conversation._

" _She won't live forever, though," the king said with words thickened by uncertainty. "Continuing the blood line of Arendelle's dynasty is far more practical. It is why you and I were betrothed since our birth; and we grew to love each other. At least with the ceremony she will be given more choice for who she marries."_

_At this point Anna had pressed her ear against the crack between the door and the frame to catch the next words of her mother as she said in a hard, quiet tone, "You always think with the head of a king. But you never feel with the heart of a father."_

_A sigh weighed down by years of turmoil as the king replied with, "I love our daughters; they mean the world to me. But if Elsa never finds someone she can love, that is something I cannot control."_

" _If you truly care for her, you wouldn't want her to be miserable."_

_A few seconds rolled by thickened by the heavy thoughts of the king. But the words that came after did not come from his mind. "You're right Eleanor. Perhaps we should go talk to her."_

_But then the sound of footsteps caused Anna to draw herself closer behind the door as the royal advisor arrived. "My dear king and queen, there is something I feel that must be brought to your attention."_

" _Can it wait?"_

" _I'm not sure; the horses in the stalls have been frightened by something, but from what we aren't certain."_

" _It seems all of the animals in Arendelle are acting strangely," the king murmured before the padding of boots against wood alerted Anna that her father was approaching. "Are the children of the citizens still suffering from nightmares?"_

" _I'm afraid to say that those numbers have increased." Anna squeezed herself against the wall and silenced her breath as the king and queen followed the advisor down the hall to investigate the frightened horses. She waited another moment or two before bolting to her own room, clicking the door shut behind her and jumping onto her bed._

' _They don't want Elsa to be miserable,' she thought to herself while she grabbed a pillow and pressed the white cotton under her cheek. 'But if that's so, she wouldn't be locked in her room like she is. But is she doing that of her own choice? I would never know because she never speaks to me."_

* * *

"They wouldn't want you to be unhappy," Anna said to her sister in the dim hallway, Elsa staring at her with wide, glimmering eyes. "And the last thing I would want you to do is marry someone purely from obedience and guilt. Do you love Jack?"

"I…"

" _Do you love him?"_

"Yes! I love him! He's the one who consumes my thoughts and dreams!"

"Then why are you in here and not out there with him? He needs you just as much as you need him. He needs to hear you say that you love him."

"But what about alliances…?"

"Alliances be damned! I'm sure you can buff all of the wars if you have Jack at your side. You two would be invincible together, I'm sure."

Anna had finally talked sense into the queen, and cut into all the years of guilt and anger that kept Elsa lying on her bed with the door closed. Elsa stood there for a moment, feeling a smile light her face as she pulled Anna into a tight hug.

"Thank you Anna. You've kept me from making the worst decision of my life."

Elsa looked past Anna's shoulder to see that Kristoff and the Guardians were standing at the end of the hallway; the Guardians were still in their disguises, along with the Italian prince who Elsa finally realized was Grand Pappy all along. He walked up to Anna and Elsa with twinkling eyes.

"The eyes are always the first to betray a disguise spell," He said to her with the smallest of shrugs. Bunnymund came up beside him, a smirk etched firmly onto his face.

"We just felt like we needed to knock sense into you and Frosty. Anybody with a working brain can see that the two of you adore each other."

Elsa looked at the Guardians, Grand Pappy, Anna and Kristoff- she realized that all of them had done this because they knew she loved Jack before she knew it herself. Tears came to her eyes as she felt something strong swell in her chest looking at all of the faces who cared for her enough to bring her back to the one man she cherished.

"Thank you, all of you," she said with tearful happiness heavy in her voice. "I don't care what the others think anymore. I see Jack, and I love him; and he is not just a fairy tale to me."

She turned then, and picked up the skirts of her dress as she began to run to the gardens, where Jack stood under the light of the moon.

* * *

"Yes," Jack said softly to himself as he gripped the wooden staff tight in one hand, "Perhaps I should leave. It would be the best for both of us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the amazing reviews! So glad that Jelsa's gaining traction once more.


	13. With the Heart of a Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olaf gestured up at Jack with his little stick arms. "Think of what would happen if you left her. Do you think it would make her life better?"
> 
> Jack felt the twisting heat in his chest crawl its way up to his throat. "In the end it might."
> 
> "But nothing matters in the end. What does matter is everything that happens before it."

"Hey Jack! Are you going somewhere?"

Jack paused, and turned his head to where the voice came. "Olaf?" He questioned quietly, looking back towards the castle looming like a tower of black in the night. Sure enough, he spotted the little snowman skipping down the narrow path of light that the open door shed.

Looking down at Olaf with his large, goofy grin and dark eyes pulled Jack's mind towards thoughts of large halls echoing with the giggles of sisters playing in the snow. The memory thinned his lips and brought moisture to his eyes as he looked away from the snowman.

Olaf gestured with little stick arms towards the door standing like a rectangle of yellow in the dark. "Elsa's in the ballroom, why are you out here?" Jack knew that Olaf had at least a trickle of understanding towards the situation twisting him and Elsa apart, if only by the softening of Olaf's voice. It was curious to think that such a sad, serious young woman had given life to a bright creature like him.

The words felt heavy on Jack's tongue when he replied with, "I finally realized that Elsa's better off without me."

Very few times had Jack seen the smile fall from Olaf's face, and it made something twist inside of his chest. "What do you mean by that?" The snowman questioned softly, walking up to Jack on stumpy white legs. "She's always happy around you."

Jack chuckled, but it was short and bitter, devoid of its usual mirth. "She can't expect to marry someone that most people dismiss as a fairy tale. Would it even be possible for us to have a family? What if nobody could see our children, Olaf?"

He turned to look down at Olaf standing by his side, staring up at him with coal-colored eyes that flickered at his words. He bent down until he was level with the snowman and tightened his fingers on his cane without noticing. "I can't bear to think that a son or daughter of ours couldn't play with other children if that happened. Elsa only has one life to live, and she can't spend it around a myth like me."

Olaf shook his head and frowned, giving Jack a look that was far too serious for such a small creature. "You're wrong, though. She loves you, Jack. Like a lot."

This time it was the spirit's turn to shake his head as he pushed himself back up to where he stood tall and slender once more. "How would I know that? She's never told me." By then he had turned his sapphire gaze away from Olaf and back towards the dime-sized circle of white in the dark above. It was so small and so far away, unreachable like everything had always been for him.

"Hey, I've only been alive for a few months but even I know that love isn't just expressed through words." Jack was taken aback by what Olaf said as he tore his eyes away from the moon and back to him. But then the winter spirit knew that it wasn't some deep and ancient wisdom that the snowman possessed; it was honesty, pure and raw, and Olaf was made out of honesty. And he was also made out of-

"Love. Elsa was thinking of love when she made you."

"Yes," Olaf said with a smile that spread slowly over his snowy features. "And it's always love, no matter what form it comes in." He gestured up at Jack with his little stick arms. "Think of what would happen if you left her. Do you think it would make her life better?"

_(The light in Elsa's eyes as she holds my face in her hands and the tightening of her fingers in mine when I hold her in the dark)_

Jack felt the twisting heat in his chest crawl its way up to his throat. "In the end it might."

"But nothing matters in the end. What does matter is everything that happens before it."

( _The warmth of her cheek pressed against my throat as her arms wrap around me, the smell of her hair brushing under my nose)_

"You mean way more to her than you think you do. What do you see when you look at her?"

"…I see a life worth living. I see _everything_ when I look at her, everything I could've ever wished for."

Olaf tugged at one of Jack's hands and grinned up at him. "She was the first person to ever see you, right? Doesn't that mean something?" Jack turned his face up if only to keeping the tears in his eyes. It meant more than he could express to anyone except her.

"Jack!"

They both startled and whipped their heads towards Elsa's voice. The queen's silhouette cast a shadow in the swathe of light where she stood in under the arch of the tall door, but that was only for a moment as she kept running to where Jack stood. The spirit felt his feet cement themselves to the ground and all he could manage was a stunned "Elsa?" before the queen ran into his arms.

Elsa's hug stole the spirit's breath with how tightly she held him, the smoothness of dark silk under his fingers when he reached his arms around her to deepen the embrace. Her heart pounded against his chest as she moved her face up to kiss his jaw, his cheeks and mouth, anywhere her lips could reach as she whispered, "I'm yours too Jack. Don't leave. _Please_ don't leave."

The spirit gazed into her pale face in the dark, her large eyes and small mouth and delicately sculpted jaw, a face that burned itself into his eyes the second they laid themselves on her as she slept in her cradle all those years ago.

"I…I don't even know why I ever thought of it. I could never leave you," He murmured back, planting a kiss on her nose before her lips reached up to capture his. The marvel of being able to touch and hold and simply _feel_ her had not dimmed over the months, and it never may.

Jack realized now just how much it would have torn Elsa apart to have run all this way to the gardens only to find them dark and empty, the spirit having withdrawn his promise. If Olaf hadn't stopped him, he surely would've been miles from Arendelle.

He felt laughter bubble in his chest when they pulled apart long enough to catch their breath. "And to think," he chuckled against her lips, "that all it took to make me realize my mistake was a talking snowman."

"Really?" Elsa giggled in reply as they touched foreheads, one hand sliding up to squeeze his shoulder. "All it took for me was a princess, an ice harvester and four guardians." Jack's chuckle turned into a laugh that rang like bells in the air as she laughed with him. Elsa's hand moved from Jack's shoulder to touch his face as she smiled into his eyes.

"I love you."

Three simple words that shouldn't have made his throat tighten like they did; but he'd already known that she loved him by her hands, her smile and eyes that he could see everything in. Love had almost become too nonexistent for him to remember what it felt like.

But Elsa made Jack feel happiness again, and he'll be damned if he was going to give up this feeling anytime soon.

They kissed each other again and again until they lost count. And only when they heard laughter sweeten the air did they stop long enough to stare at the small crowd that gathered beside Olaf. Jack didn't recognize Grand Pappy and the Guardians at first, but their eyes were quick to bring him into realization.

"You all came here. Why?" He asked all of them, Olaf beside Anna with Kristoff and Grand Pappy with Tooth, Bunnymund, Sandy and North – it was surreal to see all of them standing beside one another so casually.

North was the first to speak, no longer disguising the heavy Russian rumble in his voice. "Anna told us you two had rough patch – we just wanted to help you through it."

"Trust us, Jack Frost," Grand Pappy replied with a smile brightening his voice, "It was more than worth it to see the two of you holding each other like that." Every single one of them had seen something that both Jack and Elsa had been blind to for far too long, and it made Jack wonder if they would have discovered it on their own without the help of their friends.

"Oye," Bunnymund finally spoke up, and it was so odd to hear his voice from a tall blonde man, "I think the guests are getting a bit restless in the ballroom wondering where the queen's gone to." Tooth nodded beside him, auburn curls bobbing. "Now would be the perfect time to make them believe in Jack."

"Believe in Jack?" Elsa questioned. "Can't Grand Pappy cast something to make them see him?"

But Grand Pappy just shook his head in reply. "Belief is something that must come from the heart, not the eyes. And you know that while the mind can be persuaded, the heart is something much harder to change."

Elsa frowned at the words and turned to Jack, who looked at her with blank features. "If that's so," She replied after a moment of heavy thought, "then why are the guests still able to see the Guardians? Are they not also seen as fairytales?"

Before the Guardians could respond Anna replied with, "Well…adults still keep the belief of the Guardians because how else could they explain coins left under the pillows or presents under their trees? They weren't the ones who placed them there."

"That's true," Jack replied, "the reason why they may not believe in me is because they don't see winter as a gift. To them it's just a force of nature." It made sense in a way that Jack didn't like at all. Winter was something cold and harsh to many, empty of warmth and sunshine; nothing worthy of belief.

He bit his lip as his thoughts became full of children laughing and playing in the snow. Little clumps of frost stuck to their hair as their fingers became cold from digging through all of the clean whiteness, until their parents shouted at them to come inside before they caught a cold.

" _You shouldn't be out during the winter," Jack remembered one mother saying to her child as she wrapped rust-colored fleece around his little shoulders and ushered him inside. "It's best to save your merriment for nicer weather."_

" _But mama," the boy protested as he came into the house cozy with hearth fire, "I like it when it's cold outside. I like all the snow that comes this time of year." His mother chuckled in that condescending manner that all parents seemed to possess at one time or another."Dear, the cold isn't something you should like. You'll understand once you have a house of your own to keep warm."_

_Jack watched the boy turn back to look at the white sky with glassy eyes before the door was shut, leaving the spirit to stand outside once more by himself. The boy was called Derick by his friends, all of whom had returned some time ago to their own cottages; but Derick seemed to have taken a special liking to all the ice and snow. His mother was quick to squelch that fondness out of him, however, and soon it came to where Derick no longer cared to build snowmen or go sledding; it was all too childish._

_Winter always loses its charm to those who forget what it was like to have fun as a child._

"I can't make anyone believe in something that they see as bothersome and cold," Jack uttered softly, more to himself than anyone else. Elsa had caught his words though, and she gently took his hands into her own, stroking her thumbs over their smoothness.

"You are certainly neither bothersome nor cold," she told him quietly but firmly, "and I will gladly show others that you are one of the warmest and most brilliant people I've ever met." Something flickered in Jack's eyes when she said that, but then his head made the tiniest movement of disbelief. "I don't see how that can be possible."

"Well," he heard Tooth say brightly behind them as the _swoosh_ of heavy silk brought the bird-like spirit closer to the couple. "You have friends who can help you. We will be in the ballroom waiting for when Elsa makes her announcement." Kristoff came up beside her and grinned. "Yeah, don't worry, it's not like the two of you are alone in this."

"But we need to hurry," Tooth said behind her shoulder as she turned to walk out of the gardens with quick steps, "for it seems the ballroom air has gone thick with whispers about you, Queen Elsa. That and, well these heels are killing me." Elsa shook her head but with no small amount of amusement; a few minutes gone and rumors have already begun to choke her court.

As the small group of guardians began to file after Tooth into the double doors, Elsa embraced Jack once more, murmuring into his ear, "I couldn't care less as to what they think of me and you, for you are far more real to me than many of the men I have danced with this night."

"That so?" Jack replied, and past her shoulder he mouthed a 'thank you' at the tiny snowman beaming beside Anna, happy to have done a part in bringing them back together.

Anna still stood beside Kristoff, thinking hard about how it would be possible to make hundreds of people believe in what they deemed a child's tale. "Maybe," she murmured when her tangled trail of thoughts met a dead end, "it would be better to simply explain to them why you won't accept any suitors."

"But that's the problem," Kristoff was quick to butt in, "they'll think she's insane by declaring her love for someone they can't see." Anna's frown grew tighter as she thought about declarations of war to overtake a queen with a 'delusional' love. But then she looked at her sister, and remembered that past everything else that made Elsa who she was, there was the power of ice.

"They may think you crazy at first, but perhaps your powers will convince them that the existence of a winter spirit isn't too far off the scale in itself."

Elsa took Jack by the hand and began to walk out of the gardens. "We've pondered long enough," she shot over her shoulder to her sister, "only one way to find out how this will sort itself." Jack saw the determination glimmering in Elsa's eyes, the tightness by which she held his hand. He felt something bright swell within him thinking about how she was doing this for him without another thought.

"Are you really going to do this for me? Risk the faith of other countries for a fairytale?"

The words left his lips in a pondering manner that barely disguised how scared he was becoming. Elsa stopped, actually ceased her footsteps and turned her cerulean gaze at him hard. "I do not believe in fairytales," she told him simply, "I only believe in the faith of people."

She turned herself to him, and took both of his hands into her own. "Besides," she told him, "I'm sure we'll be able to buff all the wars side by side. We're invincible together."

The queen gave Jack's hands the tiniest squeeze before releasing one of them, as she began to walk down the long hallway towards the ballroom with Jack. "The only regret I would have in waging wars, however, is putting my family and people at risk. Hopefully the guests will see past what blinds their hearts to you."

 _We're invincible together. We're invincible together._ The words rang sweetly in Jack's mind, over and over again, and with each echo tore away a piece of nervousness from his insides until he felt bold again, walking beside his dearest friend with the cold hands and the warm heart.

When they came into the ballroom thick with royals murmuring to one another, Elsa continued walking past all of the staring eyes and whispers as the guests carved a neat line for her and Jack to walk through. "They seem to desire an answer from me," she whispered low enough to where her words only caught Jack's ears. "An answer we will surely give them."

The two of them reached the front of the room, where the thrones of the king and queen sat boldly in the center. Elsa never sat on her throne, however: what kept dust from gathering on the thrones were the servants who regularly polished them until the wood gleamed again. It was in front of them that Elsa turned to the large crowd with her hand still firmly holding Jack's, waiting until the whispers dimmed into expectant silence.

Jack looked over the crowd and saw the Guardians standing towards the side, watching with the rest of them. Anna, Kristoff and Olaf had all gone to wait beside them, and Jack realized that they didn't intervene because they had faith in Elsa to make them see by herself.

Elsa began with words loud and steady, throwing her voice into every corner of the ballroom. "Dearest guests," she began, "we hope that you have enjoyed yourselves this evening in the court of Arendelle. I'm sure you have caught wind of events that passed here recently, and came here already saddled with opinions and whatnot concerning me, my family and my citizens."

The majority of royals seemed stunned at the blunt turn Elsa's address had made, some of them glancing with varying degrees of raised brows at one another. But Elsa's voice did not waver when she continued. "I wish for you to shed these opinions so that we may start fresh.

"First off, it is true that I have the gift of ice at my fingertips. Witchcraft, sorcery - call it what you may, to me it is a gift. For years, however, I had seen it as a curse given to me to keep me away from my loved ones. I could not make friends or even speak to my sister Anna because I feared hurting others with my frost. But…"

And at this point she turned to smile at Jack, who returned her smile with glimmering eyes.

"...I met someone who helped me find the warmth in all of the cold that surrounded me."

Where Anna stood with the others she heard one man whisper, "to whom is she looking? Why is her hand extended like that?"

"Surely she has gone mad with those powers," one female voice mumbled in reply. Anna bit her lip and glanced at Kristoff, who returned her look with an uneasy gaze. "Not yet," he whispered, "let's see if she can make them believe first."

Elsa turned her eyes away from Jack and back to the crowd, but her hand never left his. "He showed me that winter wasn't something cold and formless like many of you believe it to be. Think back to when you were children. Remember the happiness you felt when you went ice skating or built things from the snow with people you loved. Winter is not lonely – it is just as bright and fun as any other time of the year."

By now the quests began to shift around as looks towards one another began to trickle into one pair of eyes all staring at the queen. Jack looked over the sea of faces looking back at them, but somehow he didn't feel nervous, not with the warmth in Elsa's hand keeping him steady . "Now," Elsa continued with the knowledge that she had been given their whole attention, "think of the man who brought you those winters. Can any of you remember his name?"

A few mumbles here in there that grew into a sea of one name mumbled in uncertain voices. "Jack Frost?" A few St. Nicholas's here and there that were quickly dismissed as North smothered chuckles into his hand.

Elsa gave one large grin over the crowd. "Yes. Jack Frost is the one who showed me that winter can be fun if you see it with the heart of a child. He is just as solid as you and I, and he is standing right here beside me."

"What is she _talking_ about?" One royal said in an exasperated whisper that was quickly hushed by several gasps of others.

"I – is that Frost? That young man with the white hair?"

"Yes, I do believe that is the man she's talking about!"

"What sort of black magic did she pull that made him appear from thin air?"

"He's quite a handsome fellow, not what I imagined him to look like."

Finally Anna grabbed Kristoff and Olaf by their hands, marching them through the crowd of shifting royals to stand beside her sister and Jack. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Jack Frost," She said brightly with one hand jutted out towards the winter spirit. Jack stared wide-eyed at her hand before he reached out his own free one to shake it, before Anna stepped aside as Kristoff stood smiling with his own hand extended.

"I'm glad to have met you, Jack Frost," He said, and Jack slowly reached out to shake his hand as well. Then Tooth was suddenly behind Kristoff, beaming at Jack with pearly white teeth. "Hello, Jack Frost," She chirped as Jack shook her own hand, and past her shoulder the winter spirit saw the rest of the Guardians waiting behind her in a line. Tooth bent down to pick up Olaf, grinning largely at Jack as his little twig hand was enveloped in the spirit's.

"Welcome to Arendelle, Frosty!"

Bunnymund was the next to shake Jack's hand, but before he did so the shout of "what in blazes are the lot of you doing?!" stunned the room into silence. One of the suitors, no doubt.

The disguised Pooka turned to stare at the angry royal with false surprise raising his brows. "Why, greeting the future king of Arendelle, ya lout."

"Future king?" Another stunned voice from the back of the ballroom.

Elsa let go of Jack's hand to walk forward and address the crowd with a voice bright and bold. "Yes, everyone, you now know my answer to who will share my reign.

"I have chosen my king, and his name is Jack Frost."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the latest chapter!!


	14. Everything in Your Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Elsa kissed each other over and over again and hugged tightly as sunlight swathed over them. "I have a life to live now," He said to her between kisses, "a life to spend with you."

The news of the betrothal spread across Europe as fast as horses could gallop and ships could sail. It spread like a trail of fire between lips, slowly growing to encompass entire towns and then countries – the news of the Snow Queen marrying the Spirit of Winter. Soon it would evolve into a story grown into a fairy tale through centuries of facts lost through stories told over fires and lights of candles, but for now it was as real as the mornings that visited the earth.

Many guests left stunned, some angrier than others, but mostly there were congratulations to be found all around as Arendelle's citizens applauded their queen's choice for a husband.

Jack thought that he would be ready for this day after so many years of seeing and never being seen; that when it finally came he would leap and shout and embrace each and every one of the new believers. But he found himself nearly overwhelmed by so many eyes staring _at_ him and not _through_ him that as soon as he could he took Elsa by the hand and led her to an empty room, shutting the door behind them.

He ran a hand through snow-colored locks and breathed in and out deeply as the tender touch of Elsa's hand came upon his shoulder. "I can't believe it," he said in a breathy murmur, "so many believe in me now, that I can't believe it myself."

"It must be a lot to take in, I know," Elsa replied with a soft smile in her voice. Jack turned to look at her, the baby he'd gazed at ponderously as she slept in her crib, the girl who laughed as she slid with her sister across the ice, the woman who laced her fingers through his as they slept together in her bed.

"And it's thanks to you that it happened. I'll never stop being grateful for the day you came to this world," Jack said to her with happiness glittering in his eyes. Elsa chuckled and came forth to embrace him, and they held each other close in the dim light of the room. "You're not the only one who's grateful," she said after a few heartbeats, and she turned to kiss the side of his jaw soft and sweet as a butterfly's wing.

The wedding was arranged two weeks from the ball, and everyone in the castle was busy and bright with anticipation, giving everything yet another thorough polishing from the windows to the floors. The castle was brighter than it had ever been in the past twenty years as everyone laughed and talked with one another like the veil of mourning had finally been lifted from their faces.

Anna, laughably, was more anxious about the wedding than Elsa was as she helped the maids fit Elsa into her wedding gown white like a dove's feather.

"It seems too tight in the middle, Elsa, are you still able to breathe?"

"Yes, Anna, I can breathe just fine," Elsa laughed as the maids moved all about and held up bits of fabric to wrap around Elsa, either shaking or nodding their heads. The queen's energy wasn't anxious as she thought it would be; rather she was more excited than anything else, and underneath that excitement was a calm happiness that warmed her body whenever she spent time around her fiancé or even thought about him.

Jack was radiating with the same excitement as she was and was everywhere in the castle at once, joking with the servants and playing with the children and hunting dogs, drinking in the interactions like he could never quite quench his thirst of them.

The queen remembered walking out to a shaded balcony that overlooked the gardens once, watching the spirit play with the servant's kids by chasing them and being chased. Even from far away she could see a smile on his face bright as the sun overhead as he let the children tackle him into a heap.

"I've got him, I've got him!" One child's bell of a voice echoed in the afternoon, "I've got winter!"

"No, you dolt!" One child yelled in reply, "the queen's the one that got him!"

Those words made the queen laugh harder than she had in weeks, and it made Jack turn his head to where she stood on the balcony looking over the game. His eyes caught hers and twinkled, his face flushed pink from all the running and yelling, and he poked out a hand from where he lay under the pile to wave at her.

She grinned and waved back as the children rolled themselves off their future king and waved too, reaching up as high as their little arms would allow.

"Isn't that right, your highness?" a girl yelled up at her, "Aren't you the one who's got winter?"

Jack stood up and winked at Elsa, making her turn pink as she replied with, "Yes, you can say I have, and in more ways than one!"

Elsa had letters sent to other royals, the first going to her cousin in a kingdom that celebrated the might of the sun. And that cousin was the first to reply with a letter filled with happy congrats and excited words before lapsing into an apology about the unfortunate event concerning the previous king and queen of Arendelle.

'I've written a few times to Princess Anna before,' her cousin wrote in floral cursive, "but I'm not sure you yourself have ever received my letters.' Elsa had never allowed herself to even read them, and the memory clenched her throat with guilt. She finished reading the letter before setting it aside on her desk and then taking up a quill to begin another letter to her cousin.

' _From now on,'_ she thought as her quill wrote elegant, lacy words over the paper, _'I'm going to reply to each and every letter I receive from dear Rapunzel.'_

Then the day of the wedding finally arrived, and when Elsa stepped out of her room that morning she found a basket filled with eggs, chocolate and flowers at her feet. Pursing her lips, she bent down to see a letter nestled among the bouquet of lilies, buttercup and azalea; she plucked it and began to read.

'From the Guardians,' the small paper read as such, 'our blessings to the happy couple of winter.'

She looked down and spotted a few odd flowers poking out here and there from the bouquet and she remembered the book of flowers kept in the library. She had a few minutes to herself before the maids arrived to help her into her gown, so she took the basket and crept into the library to take the book from the shelves.

Setting the basket beside her on the couch, she began to thumb through the pages, murmuring to herself, "Azalea…love and romance, 'I will always be true'…buttercup…childishness and cheerfulness…white lilies…innocence…purple lilac…"

"First love," A voice said beside her as she was startled from her book to see Jack sitting beside her with the basket of flowers in his lap. He grinned at her and reached into the basket to hold up a stem of flowers with tiny white petals.

"Baby's breath," He said to her with a voice as soft as the petals, "everlasting love. First and everlasting love."

She parted her lips slightly at him but nothing came out as the book lay forgotten in her lap. Jack leaned forward then, and brushed his lips over hers, bringing the stem of baby's breath to touch her fingers. "Never was there more truth in a bouquet," he whispered against her lips and she closed her eyes at the scent of pine needles.

"There you two are!" Anna's voice reached them full of bubbling mirth. They looked up to see Anna already in own dress, a soft pink hue for the best maid. Kristoff stood beside her wearing yet another shirt with a stiff collar that he refrained from tugging as he smirked at Jack and Elsa from where they sat with rosy cheeks on the couch.

"Ah uh, lover boy, hands to yourself for now," He said to Jack, and then he and Anna reached forward to begin tugging them to their feet. "The wedding's only an hour away, and you two need to be dressed," the princess chirped as Jack and Elsa stood before them with Elsa holding the baby's breath in one slender hand.

She looked down at it before bringing her eyes back to Anna. "Anna, could you bring this basket to Grand Pappy? I would like to use these flowers as the bouquet." Her sister took the basket and baby's breath, grinning brightly all the while as she observed the letter. "A present from the Guardians, hmm? They seem very fresh. They must have brought this basket early in the morning."

"And you were there to take it from them and bring it to my door," Elsa said with her own small smile gracing her lips.

* * *

Jack stood at the altar with his heart thumping in his throat, and the stiff collar of the suit he wore wasn't helping in the slightest.

_He'd only stood still long enough to let the servants take measurements, and when they held up fabrics for him to pick he took one sweeping gaze over them before reaching out to touch one. The servant looked down to see his choice._

" _Cerulean, sir? I'm sure this would be very dashing against your skin tone." But Jack hadn't chosen the color for that reason._

The priest who stood behind the tall wooden podium smiled at him. "It's curious how calm you are," he said to Jack, "Many times before I've seen nervous fidgeting and lip biting from the grooms. You, however, seem very serene for a man who's about to become a king."

The winter spirit grinned back at him and said something he couldn't remember that made the priest chuckle, but on the inside he thought, _'He has no clue about the storm inside of me.'_

Then the choir began to sing as the guests stood from their pews and turned to the double doors in the back of the church. First the bridesmaids walked in with the groomsmen at their sides, Anna and Kristoff following behind as the best maid and best man. Anna turned her head to beam at her cousin standing at the end of one of the pews; the other princess smiled back and waved with her husband, a tall man with rich brown hair.

The little flower girl and Olaf the ring bearer followed the line with the girl throwing petals left and right, a huge grin on her face as Olaf held the pillow with just as big a smile on his own snowy features.

Jack looked behind them, and what he saw made the furious pounding in his chest nearly still with awe.

The white fabric of Elsa's gown glowed in the morning sun, and the queen's face was both bright and calm; the only thing betraying her own excitement was the rosy pink of her cheeks, flushed with happiness and making her more beautiful than Jack thought possible.

She held the bouquet of the Guardians to her chest with her right hand while her left hand held Grand Pappy's own gray one, and the two walked down the aisle towards the altar. Jack felt a wave of emotions crash over him at the realization that the most beautiful woman he knew was walking down the aisle towards _him,_ because they were going to be married.

Elsa stood beside him, both of them aching to look at one another as the priest gave the usual speech and the two said their vows with all the sincerity in the world. Jack turned then, and lifted the veil from Elsa's face, and her eyes sparkled into his before they leaned forward to kiss as the roar of applause sounded behind them.

"Thus following the matrimony of her highness Queen Elsa to Jack Frost, the spirit of winter, he shall now be anointed King of Arendelle."

Anna stood sobbing into her flowers beside Kristoff, grinning hard to try to keep from crying himself as the Archbishop came forward with the crown in his hands; Jack got onto his knees and bent forward to feel the weight of it settle on his head.

' _This is happening,'_ Jack thought to himself as he looked down at his praying hands, unable to grasp the reality that seemed so surreal to him, _'This is all truly happening.'_ He got up and took the orb and scepter presented to him, turning to the sea of faces as the applause started anew. And when he turned to place the orb and scepter back onto the pillow, he shared a look with his new wife that only they knew as they walked together down the aisle to roaring applause and beaming faces.

Jack looked over all the guests and saw towards the back a rather peculiar group of people standing at the end of the last pew, all with broad smiles on their faces. His eyebrows nearly reached his hairline when he recognized who they were.

"Almost skipped it," The blonde man with Bunnymund's voice said smirking to him, "realized at the nick of time that we couldn't miss it for the world."

They got in the carriage that took them back to the castle, followed by the procession and the chant that started low at first then escalated into a chorusing sea of, "Long live the King and Queen, the winter rulers of Arendelle!"

* * *

And the world's oldest song was sung that night between lips and bodies and fingers laced tightly together as the next morning shed sunlight's warmth over the soundly sleeping figures. Jack was the first to rouse himself from his slumber, eyes widening at the realization that he had _actually fallen asleep in the first place._

"By the Moon," he muttered faintly, wondering what the sleep meant as he hadn't slept in centuries past. He felt Elsa stir in his arms as her cerulean eyes fluttered open and she turned over to smile at him- and then gasp loudly.

"Your eyes," she began, "and your hair! They're _brown!_ "

Both of them sat up quickly as Elsa reached forward to run her fingers through his chestnut locks. "They're beautiful," she murmured as her eyes looked into his, "but does this mean that…?"

He caught a glimpse of himself in Elsa's mirror, and for a moment didn't recognize the man staring back at him. His heart still beat the same, and his spirit was still cold and brilliant; it seemed at first that the only thing that changed about him were his hair and eyes.

"Could it be?" He said in a stunned whisper and turned his gaze back to his wife, who stared at him with wide, flashing eyes. A smile lit itself in his stomach and traveled all the way up to his lips, and he smiled so largely that Elsa began to laugh as she threw herself onto him in a tangle of sheets.

"Jack, you're-!"

And their peals of laughter echoed into the hall and woke the rest of the castle, Anna stirring beside Kristoff and murmuring lazily in her sleep before she shot upright and listened to the laughter with giant eyes. Kristoff though, slept like a rock still and she had to shake him awake.

"Hey you," she said to Kristoff who groaned before sitting upright and yawning loudly before rubbing at his eyes. "Do you hear that?"

" 'Course I do," he replied with curiosity waking his voice. "I wonder what they're laughing about."

Jack and Elsa kissed each other over and over again and hugged tightly as sunlight swathed over them. "I have a life to live now," He said to her between kisses, "a life to spend with you."

* * *

"Daddy, can we see your cane again?"

Jack turned to his children from where he sat writing documents at his desk. "That old thing?" He said to his son Polaris with a raised brow. "Go ahead. It's in the wardrobe as usual." Aurora went and dug into the closet before taking out the wooden staff and smiling down at it. She held it like a sword and began to jab at the air.

Polaris, with his dark brown hair and blue eyes, frowned at her. "Hey, I wanna hold it too!" Aurora scoffed at him and held it protectively to her chest. "Oldest gets it first. Hey dad, tell us about the time you used this to defeat the bad man!"

"Not that tale again," came a sigh from the doorway as Elsa walked into the room wearing a soft yellow dress. She pursed her lips at her children. "Don't you have lessons with your cousins?"

"We're already done for the afternoon," Aurora replied with twinkling brown eyes as she held the cane just out of Polaris's reach. "We were wondering if you and dad would like to go swimming with us later."

Elsa laughed at the hopeful look on their faces as Aurora finally let Polaris hold the wooden cane. "As long as the two of you promise not to cause mischief this time. Uncle Kristoff doesn't appreciate having snow dropped into his drawers."

Polaris used his free hand to jab a finger at Aurora. "She was the one who did it." His sister smirked at him, the mischief of her father dancing in her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Yes, but it wasn't hard to convince you to do it to Uncle Eugene."

Remembering the looks on Kristoff's and Eugene's faces that day made Jack burst into chuckles as his wife shook her head, albeit with the tiniest trace of amusement.

"Alright, later then. But first we'll have lunch; go now, your father and I will see you in the dining hall soon." Aurora and Polaris put the staff back into the wardrobe and ran out of the room calling for their cousins. Jack finished signing the last document as Elsa approached him and rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Seems that just yesterday we were helping them to walk," Jack said with memories of their children as babies warming his voice. "Now they run everywhere they go." Elsa's hands left her husband's shoulders as he stood from his desk and turned to her with mirth sparkling in his chocolate eyes.

"They're all bundles of energy at this age," she replied as they walked together out of the room and down the hall bouncing with the laughter of small voices. "I wouldn't trade them for the world." Then her hand reached between them to loop through his and squeeze it, cold fingers spreading warmth into his.

"And neither would I with you."

They stopped in the hallway with sunlight spilling through the tall windows. Jack turned to his wife and bent forward, pressing his lips against hers. All their years of being together never stopped their kisses from being new, each one as special as the last.

"I thank the Moon each night for everything he's given me," He murmured to her once they pulled away, his words tickling her lips.

_My queen. My wife. My lover._

_My dearest friend._

* * *

"Thus the story goes of the two guardians of winter," A mother said to her son as the young boy lay nestled under his covers. Outside the blackened window, snow was falling in slow, dreamy flurries. "It is said that when they lived a mortal life and died together, the Moon took their souls and made them everlasting, so that they could forever look over the children of the world as the Snow Queen and the Winter Spirit."

The mother snapped the book shut and placed it on the night table as the son yawned and cuddled further into his warm bed. "Mom?" he questioned in a voice heavy with sleepiness as his mother bent down to kiss his brow. "Do you think that they're real? Elsa and Jack Frost?"

The woman paused then, and smiled a bit at the boy. "Of course they are, Jamie," she replied before getting up from the bed and walking to the doorway of her son's bedroom. "Who else brings us the snow in the winter time?"

And with those words she flicked off the light switch and closed the door, dimming the boy's room into darkness.

Jamie waited until he heard his mother's footsteps disappear down the stairs; then he shifted out of his covers and stepped onto the floor. With quiet feet he tiptoed towards his window and opened it up, letting the cold air and snowflakes bite his face as he craned his neck out into the night sky. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he murmured ponderously as he looked around at all the other houses like blocks of shadows.

Suddenly a woman's voice reached his ears, softly scolding. "Jamie, you should be in bed right now. Santa won't like it if he sees you looking for him."

Jamie turned to see a beautiful woman with platinum hair sitting idly on the branch of a naked tree, one leg crossed over the other delicately. Next to her was a man with a navy hoodie and hair white like snow, laying with his stomach over the branch as his feet swung lazily in the air.

Jamie sighed a bit before grinning. "I know, I know," he replied, smiling at the guardians. "The stories my mom read to me about him have made me curious though."

The man climbed up to where he sat beside the woman and smirked at the boy. "Your sister's a good little girl who sleeps during Christmas Eve. Why don't you do the same?" Jamie just nodded then and began to close his window. "Goodnight Jack. Goodnight Elsa."

"Goodnight Jamie."

Then the window snapped shut as Jamie climbed back into bed and let sleep take him. Jack stood up on the branch and stretched his arms into the sky, smiling down at his wife. "Kids are always so full of curiosity."

Elsa smiled and nodded in agreement as she took Jack's extended hand. The moon glowed brightly over them as they hopped down from the branch and onto the snow. Hooking their arms together, he turned to her with a wily grin.

"You ready to give other children a white Christmas, my dear lady?"

The Snow Queen's own smile widened as she replied, "Of course, my dear sir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this story! I absolutely loved this couple back in the day, and Frozen 2 brought some of those feelings back; hoping this couple will stay popular because I have an idea for a new story. Thanks for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!!

**Author's Note:**

> Since Frozen 2 came out, I figured now was as good a time as any to post this, because I already know Imma be back in this sinking ship aaaall over again! I honestly don't know if I should write another Jelsa fic, since wow, five years is still a long time.


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